Sir, - May I comment on the successive sentences in Medb Ruane's article in The Irish Times of Saturday, April 26th.
1 "God's image is found in man in a way in which it is not found in woman".
The quotation omits the opening words of the sentence: "With respect to something secondary". An earlier sentence in the same paragraph reads: "That in which the image of God principally consists, namely have an intellectual nature, is found in both man and woman". (STh 1, 93, 4 and 1)
2 "He (Aquinas) worried about how external forces such as wind direction or water content could determine whether a male or female was conceived".
Species exist in which environmental factors effect sex determination. See Journal of Zoology (London), 1983, 200, 143-177.
3 "Aristotle, his mentor, had called the female a `male manque'."
On each of the five occasions on which Aquinas cites this text from Aristotle, he does so to distance himself from it. His own view is clear: Woman is not manque', either with respect to Nature, or with respect to God, who is the source of Nature (STh, 1, 92, 1, ad 1)
I have sought to deal more fully with some of the above in an article in New Blackfriars, March 1994. If anyone does not have access to this journal, I will be glad to forward an offprint. - Yours, etc.,
Maurice Kennedy Centre,
University College Dublin.