Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026): Conatus - Journal of Philosophy SI: Anthropology and Gender - Ancient & Medieval Philosophical Perspectives in Context

This special issue examines conceptions of sex and gender in Late Antiquity and medieval Christianity, with particular attention to the need to move beyond biological essentialism. In Greek texts of this period, the term «φύλον» has a broad semantic range that may include both sex and gender in modern usage. The contributions gathered here therefore interpret Greek and Latin sources with a view to clarifying whether their authors are addressing biological sex, socially construed gender, or a more complex interplay between the two. The issue argues that, in many of the texts under consideration, gender rather than sex shapes the ways in which human beings define their modes of being, whereas sex itself may appear as an obstacle to the attainment of deification. Within the broader framework of anthropology, the essays explore the relation of sex and gender to central concepts in late antique and medieval pagan and Christian traditions, including archetype, reason, will, sin, restoration, and deification.