Conclusion

The Conclusion brings together the views on the gender of knowledge as found in Pythagorean texts. The texts repeatedly consider the possibility that philosophy is a female as well as male endeavor. Because female philosophizing is always contingent, it is crucial to approach these testimonies with a mixture of suspicion and belief. Pythagorean women philosophers exist not as textual representations of discrete historical figures, but as tangled entities, straddling history and fiction. From ancient fragments we may create modern narratives of exclusion or inclusion. However, the persistent presence of women in representations of Pythagorean history bears witness to the Greek writers’ conviction that women have the capacity to contribute to philosophical knowledge and have done so in the past.