Feminism and Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: ‘Lordship and Bondage’ and ‘Ethical Action’

Abstract

In quest of an authoritative text for determining the relationship between Hegel and feminism, nearly all writers on the subject have turned to his interpretation of Antigone in chapter six of the Phenomenology of Spirit. There are at least two compelling reasons for this. In the first place, as the comprehensive introduction to Hegel's writings, the Phenomenology of Spirit is the obvious place to begin in exploring Hegel's arguments on the subject (compare Forster 1998: 13-14). Because the description of gender relations in the world of ancient Greece in chapter six is Hegel's only extended discussion on the topic, this obviously recommends that discussion as a starting point for study. In the second place, Hegel refers back to the division of gender roles in that chapter in some of his discussions concerning gender and women in subsequent ethical writings, most notably in the Elements of the Philosophy of Right. This would suggest that Hegel himself took the discussion there as authoritative on matters of gender.Despite general agreement that Hegel's account of Antigone in the Phenomenology of Spirit is significant, scholars differ on how best to interpret that significance. Kelly Oliver argues that Hegel's restriction of women to traditional family roles in chapter six prevents them from participating in later stages of the dialectic, a fact that ‘undermines Hegel's entire project in the Phenomenology’ (Oliver 1996: 69). Patricia Jagentowicz Mills claims that ‘Hegel's interpretation of Sophocles’ play Antigone is central to an understanding of woman's role in the Hegelian system' (Mills 1996: 59), but goes on to argue that Hegel uses a distortion of the play ‘to represent woman in the family in transhistorical terms’ (Mills 1996: 78).