| Popis: |
The role of mother has, throughout intellectual history, been stretched in various ideological directions: in pursuit of biological, social, ethical, and political ends. This project focuses on the ways in which Aristotle's ethical claims about motherhood (as a supreme capacity to care for children, post-birth) have exploited pseudo-biology as a means of excluding mothers from the political sphere and active citizenship. Following this investigation, this thesis addresses the gendered binary between the domestic and political spheres as well as the possible conflation between biological claims and cultural claims that motivate said binary. Included in this cultural study is a case study of a lost ancient Greek tragedy in which a mother chooses her city over her family. Finally, this thesis considers second-wave feminism–as promoted by French philosophers Élisabeth Badinter and Simone de Beauvoir–as a response to Aristotle's problematic expectations of motherhood; however, this form of feminism comes up short in an inability to escape the binary between family and state. Political solutions–that is, paying mothers for their labor (both during pregnancy and post-birth) and redefining homemaking–are briefly examined. |
