A fissure in the distinction: Hannah Arendt, the family and the public/private dichotomy

Philosophy and Social Criticism 24 (5):85-104 (1998)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

By way of an analysis of Arendt's defense of the public/private distinction in The Human Condition, this essay offers a re-interpretation of the status of the family as a realm where the categories of action and speech play a vital role. The traditional criterion for the establishment of the public/private distinction is grounded in an idealization of the family as a sphere where a unity of interests destroys the conditions for the categories of action and speech. This essay takes issue with this assumption and argues that the traditional conception has had a pernicious effect not only on women, but on men as well. This argument is supported by locating a fissure in Arendt's analysis of this distinction that suggests a profound structural affinity between the public realm and the family. Key Words: Arendt • family • feminism • public/private.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 80,057

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
57 (#218,923)

6 months
1 (#477,912)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

References found in this work

The human condition [selections].Hannah Arendt - 2013 - In Timothy C. Campbell & Adam Sitze (eds.), Biopolitics: A Reader. Duke University Press.
Justice, Gender and the Family.Susan Moller Okin - 1989 - Hypatia 8 (1):209-214.
Justice, Gender, and the Family.Martha L. Fineman - 1991 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 20 (1):77-97.
Justice: On relating private and public.Hanna Fenichel Pitkin - 1981 - Political Theory 9 (3):327-352.

View all 7 references / Add more references