Una Carla Lonzi: a Feminist Critique to Sexual Difference in Hegel’s Ethical State

Abstract

Within contemporary philosophical discourse we find different thinkers that, with the aim to criticize Western dominant thought, by them addressed as ‘phallocentric’, directly refer to Hegelian texts. This paper will present one author who have openly spoken out a feminist critique of Hegelian thought, and in particular of the sexual division described by the Stuttgart philosopher, culminating in the ethical state – representing the constitution of the modern state – with the confinement of the feminine within the domestic sphere and, conversely, the liberation of the masculine within community political life.
 The thinker who will be analyzed is the Italian activist and philosopher Carla Lonzi, author of the renowned Sputiamo su Hegel (Let’s Spit on Hegel) and precursor of the Italian sexual difference feminism. The author confronted the political division implemented by Hegel within the ethical state between the two sexes, trying to show how Hegel’s work strongly contributed to the constitution of the patriarchal symbolic order still in force in Western thought. The fundamental point of the author’s thought is, in fact, the conviction that the symbolic and linguistic structures of Western culture are something deeply rooted and, therefore, very complex to change. This helps us to understand why in Europe, despite the implementation of various legislative changes – such as, for example, the establishment of anti-violence centers, the recognition of gender violence at a legal level, the sanctions against gender discrimination in the workplace – the patriarchal dynamics typical of Western thought are changing too slowly (when they are): gender violence is the order of the day, the pay gap is far from being healed, and, above all, the division of gender roles between care work and productive work is still strongly present.
 This text, therefore, seeks to demonstrate that the philosophical scope that accompanied the formation of European thought also characterized its darker features, including the patriarchal perspective. Here, we will analyze a particular aspect of patriarchy, focusing on its elaboration within Hegelian political philosophy: the presumed ontological and biological/natural destination of the female to domestic work and the male to public life.
 To this end, the article is divided into two parts. In the first part, the concept of sexual difference as developed by Hegel will be presented, analyzing its development within the three parts of his philosophical system. In the second part, a part of Lonzi’s thought will be briefly analyzed, to then articulate her critique of the Hegelian division of gender roles.