Back Over the Sexual Contract: A Hegelian Critique of Patriarchy

301 Pages·2021·4.541 MB·English

by  Lorenzo Rustighi

Back Over the
Sexual Contract

Back Over the
Sexual Contract
A Hegelian
Critique of Patriarchy
Lorenzo Rustighi
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Lexington Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright © 2021 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
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without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rustighi, Lorenzo, author.
Title: Back over the sexual contract : a Hegelian critique of patriarchy /
Lorenzo Rustighi.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2021] | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: “This book investigates the problem of
patriarchy in modern social contract theories by analyzing the concept
of “sexual contract” from Thomas Hobbes to Immanuel Kant. It sheds light
on both the genesis and the logic of patriarchal relations in modern
culture”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021044190 (print) | LCCN 2021044191 (ebook) | ISBN
9781793638717 (Cloth : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781793638724 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Patriarchy. | Social contract. | Feminist theory.
Classification: LCC GN479.6 .R8 2021 (print) | LCC GN479.6 (ebook) | DDC
321/.1—dc23/eng/20211021
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044190
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044191
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Nam quem fructum ferat ille . . . qui ab Aristotile felicitatem ostensam
reostendere conaretur?
Dante Alighieri, De Monarchia

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Thomas Hobbes: Sovereign Fathers 17
2 John Locke: Patriarchal Trust 51
3 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Governing Mothers 113
4 Immanuel Kant: The Feminine Multitude 155
Conclusion: Hegel: Democracy and Difference 231
References 257
Index 277
About the Author 281
vii

Acknowledgments
This book would never have seen the light of day without the vital scientific
support of Sandro Chignola and Pierpaolo Cesaroni, to whom I am eternally
grateful for honoring me with the gift of their friendship as well as for tak-
ing my work seriously. My sincerest gratitude goes also to Giuseppe Duso,
Mauro Farnesi Camellone, Clara Mogno, and Matteo Bozzon for walking me
past many a perplexity and for always pointing me in the right direction. In
the midst of it all, I certainly owe a great deal to Mavie Loda, who benevo-
lently listened to all of my ravings during many pandemic coffees and in fact,
I have to say, has been doing it for the last nine years.
A special mention goes to the friends of the Philosophy Department in Pa-
dova—they all know who they are—with whom I have shared far too many
coffees and cigarettes in front of our beloved library.
I must express my heartfelt appreciation to Claudio Ingerflom, Marina
Farinetti, Francesco Callegaro, Damián Rosanovich, Facundo Bey, and
Ayelén Tealdi for making me feel at home in Buenos Aires and for giving me
many precious opportunities to discuss my work.
I am truly grateful to Gilles Labelle, Patricia Springborg, and Gonzalo
Bustamante Kuschel for their scientific esteem and for supporting me in more
than one occasion.
I also wish to thank Tuija Pulkkinen for encouraging me in the early stages
of my investigation into the concept of patriarchy in modern political theory.
Since parts of chapters 1 and 3 have previously appeared in Philosophy
& Social Criticism,1 I have to acknowledge David Rasmussen and Zhuoyao
(Peter) Li for helping me through the publication process.
I could not thank enough Jana Hodges-Kluck and Sydney Wedbush for the
incredible effort they have made to allow me to publish this book in the best
possible manner.
ix