2024 / June

托克維爾論家庭的本質與民主精神： 公私混合性與自我犧牲
Tocqueville on the Nature of the Family and the Spirit of Democracy: Mixed Public-Private and Self-Sacrifice

一般論文 Article

陳立
Li Chen

67-103

本文通過探討為何托克維爾認為美國的繁榮主要應當歸功於女性卻又將其活動領域限制在家庭，來理解家庭之於民主的價值。本文首先從方法和內容分析過去的研究在此議題的不足，特別是採用公私分離的研究框架，通過貶低公共領域來證明家庭的道德價值與托克維爾強調公共參與的立場矛盾，也使女性無辜背負國家道德墮落的責任。本文進而提出一種「超越公私分離」的研究框架，圍繞父子關係論證家庭本身是公私混合的領域，通過闡釋夫妻為家庭犧牲自我是民主中政治結社和抵抗暴政的精神和力量源頭進一步證明家庭的政治性。最後，本文通過論述宗教才是道德的源頭，其只能通過家庭且主要是女性才能德化民主，以解釋為何妻子相較丈夫要更多地為家庭犧牲。

This paper aims to explore the value of the family to democracy by discussing why Tocqueville attributed the prosperity of America mainly to women, but confined their active involvement to the home. First, I analyze the shortcomings of past studies on this theme in terms of method and content. In particular, they prove the moral value of the family by devaluing the public sphere, which conflicts with Tocqueville’s emphasis on citizen participation in public affairs. Moreover, they inadvertently attribute the moral decline of the nation to women. Therefore, I adopt the research framework of “beyond the public-private divide.” This paper focuses on the father-son relationship to demonstrate that the family itself is a realm of mixed public-private spheres. In order to further prove that the family is political, this paper argues that the husband and wife’s sacrifice for their family is the source of spirit and power for political association and resistance to tyranny in the democracy. Finally, I argue that religion, rather than women, is the foundation of morality, and it moralizes democracy only through the institution of the family, which heavily relies on women, to explain why wives have to sacrifice more for the family than their husbands.

托克維爾, 家庭, 民主, 婚姻, 女性, 公私混合性, 自我犧牲
Tocqueville, family, democracy, marriage, women, mixed public-private, self-sacrifice

PDF Full Text