Knox justified male dominance using microcosm-macrocosm correspondence theory

Evidence

Although Knox was not a hater of all women, his First Blast of the Trumpet was symptomatic of a wider controversy surrounding women who were overturning the order of nature. In advocating that women should be kept in their place in the natural order, Knox drew on the microcosm-macrocosm theory of correspondence between the hierarchically stratified natural world and the little world of human beings. In the macrocosm theory, spirit and pure activity (associated with the male) increased toward the upper reaches of the closed spherical world, while the female earth lay at its center. Women’s place was symbolized by the passive, base matter, which nurtured the active spiritual principle but was always below it and inferior to it. Knox held that, since flesh is subordinate to spirit, a woman’s place is beneath man’s. The laws of nature ordain that men should command women: “The order of God’s creation” and “the light of nature” dictate against women’s rule, for it subverts “good order.” Women’s role, according to Knox, was that of obedient servant. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 594

Categorization

• XREF: Directly ties patriarchal ideology to the hierarchical cosmos being dismantled across earlier chapters, so Knox’s nature armor is itself a product of the organic worldview. — connects to: Amplified masculinity functions as compensative symbolism for subordinate groups — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3002; Relations of domination are multiple, specific, and reversible rather than unified — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 62

Broader Connections

• Relations of domination are multiple, specific, and reversible rather than unified #complicates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 62
• Amplified masculinity functions as compensative symbolism for subordinate groups #expands (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3002