SOURCE: "The Metaphysical Science of Aristotle's Generation of Animals and Its Feminist Critics," in The Review of Metaphysics: A Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 2, December, 1992, pp. 307-42.

In the following essay, Tress defends Aristotle's Generation of Animals against comments voiced by feminist critics, stressing that Aristotle observes that both male and female are the "principles of generation." Tress further maintains that the apparent inequality of the sexes in Aristotle's theories stems not from misogynistic or sexist views, but from specific philosophical problems that Aristotle treats.

I

How does life begin? How is it and why is it that a child comes into being? To answer these questions about life and its origins requires a system of presuppositions about a great many metaphysical matters, such as causation and its modes of operation, relations of identity and difference, and, perhaps above all, the transition from not-being to actualized existence. In his...