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| 1477 | Being manly and brave is the result of convention, not of human nature |
| Full Idea: Manliness is not a natural human attribute, otherwise women would be just as brave. It is due to pressure from laws, and this pressure has no free will, but is a slave of convention and criticism. | |||
| From: Plutarch (64: Gryllus - on Rationality in Animals [c.85], 988c) | |||
| A reaction: This is the first glimmerings of seeing gender as a cultural creation, rather than as a fact. Presumably he takes the same view of some of the supposed feminine virtues. |
| 1478 | Animals don't value pleasure, as they cease sexual intercourse after impregnation |
| Full Idea: Animals of both sexes cease to have intercourse after impregnation; that shows how little animals value pleasure, and that nature is all that counts. | |||
| From: Plutarch (64: Gryllus - on Rationality in Animals [c.85], 990d) | |||
| A reaction: A famous monkey had an implant to stimulate pleasure, and a button to trigger it. It apparently would have starved to death rather than release the button. Animal sex is dull? |
| 1479 | Animals have not been led into homosexuality, because they value pleasure very little |
| Full Idea: Because animals value pleasure very little, they have not been led into sex between males or between females. | |||
| From: Plutarch (64: Gryllus - on Rationality in Animals [c.85], 990d) |