Title: " 'Birth Follows the Belly': A Reinterpretation of Natural Maternal Dominion in Hobbes"

Joel van Fossen

Abstract:

According to Thomas Hobbes, the preferences and powers of individuals in the state of nature play a meaningful role on the way society is and has been historically organized. We can see the effect of this through his concept of original maternal dominion, which is the idea that in nature only women have the capacity for original parental right to rule. In this paper, I provide an interpretation of this concept, and I argue that this ability is a genuine power [potestas] on Hobbes’s account. Consequently, this power fulfills an important desire on Hobbes’s picture of human nature, namely that individuals desire glory through familial honor. Women can fulfill this desire in Hobbes’s state of nature, while men cannot, and therefore, men have an interest in the patriarchal subjugation of women through controlling this power. Contra Carole Pateman, my interpretation explains how Hobbes’s theoretical state of nature explains patriarchy as a historical constant without violating Hobbes’s central tenant of natural equality of vulnerability. I make my argument in three parts: First, I summarize Hobbes’s view of parental dominion. I then present his two central arguments for original maternal dominion in the state of nature. I contend that these arguments are seemingly incompatible as he presents them in Leviathan and De Cive. To resolve this incompatibility, I suggest we should understand that maternal dominion starts prior to birth, which is a feature of Hobbes’s account that is apparent in his Elements of Law. In the last section, I argue that original maternal dominion designates the power of reproduction, and this power makes the state of nature unequal in women’s favor. Moreover, this inequality provides a reason for why men and not women on average would have a motivation for entering into civil society. This civil inequality is not inevitable, however, as Hobbes displays through his example of the Amazons. Moreover, my interpretation highlights an important feature of Hobbes’s example of the Amazons, namely that the Amazons maintained a peaceful relation with their neighboring countries through the selective sharing of their reproductive power.

Draft Paper