La famille des classiques

Family, as conceived in early modernity, no longer exists. It is nonetheless a useful historical tool: both to understand how we came to reject it, and to analyse how we built our own, contemporary model of family. We have inherited a complex institution, where hierarchy, division of labour, gender and generational differences, ideas of subsistence, care and feelings as well as modalities of affiliation have dramatically changed. Philosophical ideas of family are undeniably part of our shared history. Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Pufendorf, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Diderot all considered the family as a crucial issue: Each of them incorporated the notion of family into their political theory and social ontology. Yet, in spite of its importance, studies in the history of philosophy have surprisingly overlooked the topic of the family. This book intends to shed more light on the subject: How did Locke promote parental equality? How did Hobbes deal with the issue of care? How did Montesquieu modify the way we consider heiresses? It also sheds light on how Pufendorf differed from Rousseau on the issue of marital conversation. This history of family forces us to look again at our convictions on any “natural” essence of family. This is, after all, the essential task of philosophy.