学术资讯｜全球正义工作坊第五十讲：母性情怀：十七世纪自然法中的感情与威权

Global Justice Workshop (50th)

Organizer

Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)

 Sun Yat-sen University

Topic

Motherly Feelings: 

Affection and Authority in Seventeenth-Century Natural Law

Speaker

Anna BECKER

Professor

Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas

University of Aarhus

Moderator

Jun-Hyeok KWAK

Professor

Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)

Sun Yat-sen University

Time

July 7th, 2026

15:00-17:00

VOOV

559-112-134

ABSTRACT

Early modern natural law thinkers sought to identify universal ‘natural’ principles on which human sociability could be founded. Frequently turning to the idea of a status naturalis, or ‘natural state,’ they investigated the needs from which rights and laws arose, and the grounds on which public sovereignty could be justified. The family played a central role in these enquiries: a hinge between nature and culture, between the imagined unbound individual and the fully formed sociable citizen in the political sphere, even where that sphere was conceived as contracted. Families were thus explored as the foundation of human sociability; among other things, they were understood as the nucleus of the individual’s capacity to care for others.

This chapter examines the role of mothers within the family – and the intellectual challenge they posed. In giving birth to children, mothers, more than fathers, appeared to be the true founders of the state. It was through a mother’s milk that a child survived; it was through a mother’s love that a child developed emotions towards others that made living in larger societies possible. The chapter traces how natural law thinkers engaged with maternal practices and matriarchal power, as they struggled to uphold the naturalness of paternal sovereignty – clearly fearing it might be custom in disguise.

全球正义工作坊第（50）讲

主办

中山大学哲学系（珠海）

主题

母性情怀：

十七世纪自然法中的感情与威权

主讲

Anna BECKER  

奥胡斯大学哲学与思想史系，教授

主持

Jun-Hyeok KWAK（郭峻赫）

中山大学哲学系（珠海），教授

时间

2026年7月7日

15:00-17:00

地点

559-112-134

摘要

现代早期的自然法学家们试图找到一种可以为人类社会性奠基的普遍“自然”原则。他们常常诉诸“自然状态”这一概念，探究权利与法律由何种需求而兴起，而公共主权又因何种理由得以证成。“家庭”在这些研究中扮演着核心角色：它是自然与文化之间的纽带，连接了假想的无拘束个体与政治领域中具有社会性的成熟公民——即使该政治领域被设想为契约性的。因此，家庭被作为人类社会性的根基加以考察，并被视为个体关怀他人这一能力得以生发的关键。

本章节考察了家庭中母亲的角色——以及她们所带来的思想挑战。通过给予孩子生命，母亲似乎比父亲更像国家的真正奠基者。正是母亲的乳汁，才使孩子得以存活，正是母亲的爱，才使孩子生发出朝向他人的情感，这使得更大规模的社会生活得以可能。本章节追溯了自然法学家是如何与母性实践及母权力量展开互动的——他们一边努力地维护父权的自然性，一边又唯恐这可能只是一种伪装起来的习俗。

来源｜哲珠新媒体

文稿｜朱浩源

海报｜杨　琳

编辑｜姚元琦

初审｜韩　珩

审核｜卢　毅

审核发布｜屈琼斐