Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege. Robert Filmer is associated with the patriarchal political theory. His theory is based on the authority of religious and biblical patriarchs over their families. In the beginning God gave authority to Adam, who had complete control over his descendants. Filmer stresses the importance of fatherly authority in Genesis which shares stories about Adam, Noah, Isaac, and Jacob. According to Filmer, the political and social structures found in Genesis are what modern political communities should be based off of. In the political field, Filmer uses the Bible to justify his point of view.
Throughout Patriarcha Filmer shows evidence and backs his thoughts up with statements referring to religion and the Bible. it states: "That the patriarchs were...endowed with kingly power" (page 1747). Another place that Filmer backs up his beliefs with the Bible is when he refers to the Ten Commandments and says on page 1748, "To confirm this natural right of regal power, we find in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) that the law which enjoins obedience to kinds is delievered in terms of 'Honor thy father,' as if all power were originally in the father." He also compares and contrasts a father figure to a king with the main difference being a father is ruling over one family while a king is over many families.
To me it seems as though Filmer doesn't believe women have a place or say in the family. He could be using father and parent as both mother and father, but just from reading the title of the piece it yells out patriarch or male. Researching Filmer on the internet and reading his background information it shares all his viewpoints on males. It seems he doesn't have respect for the women. It seems he just wants women to give birth then the fathers can handle everything else.
What do you think about Patriarcha and patriarchy? Is it ironic that he would name one of his most famous pieces of literature Patriarcha?
That's interesting. I hesitate to be so harsh on Filmer though, at least for these reasons. Certainly I disagree with his position on political power, but I don't think he was too concerned with gender relations. I don't know much about his biography so I'm speaking based on my own limited interpretation but I didn't read this as an anti-feminine piece more than anything else written in that time. Filmer simply wasn't thinking about women in positions of power, and I don't think many were; even though a Queen had just ruled England it still seemed ingrained in everyone's mindset that males were in charge. We have to read Filmer in the context of his time.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the title of the piece I think it was more in reference to the biblical patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob) who he used as one major point of evidence to support Kingly power. While the title, the biblical story, and Filmer all imply male domination I don't think that was really the point, it was just taken for granted.
I found your rummination very spot on. I completely agree with you that what Filmer is mainly focused on in Patriarchia is the importance of the father leader in the family. What i found interesting though was that during this time period a whole new spectrum to women's writing came along, empowering them and giving them a chance to express their opinions and feelings towards politics, spirituality, and beliefs as well. So while Filmer may be focused on the idea that the male runs the family we certainly see that this time period also allowed women to branch out and have more of a say in society too.
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