Das Private ist politisch, das Politische ist privat. Korrespondenzen zwischen famili rer und staatlicher Ordnung im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert – und heute

This article examines three different ways of establishing connections between political models andthe realm of the family. It scrutinizes and criticizes the patriarchal homology between political andprivate father figures (Filmer vs. Locke), casts light on the political bearings of sympathetic relationswhich are modeled based on maternal love (Adam Smith and Condorcet), and examines therevolutionary ideal of fraternity (Friedrich Schiller). The author distinguishes symbolic (paternal),synergetic (fraternal) and sympathetic relations and analyzes their bearings for modern democracies.He takes issue with the liberal separation between the private and the political, as it tends to losesight of the marked correspondences between these spheres. He also questions the conservative ideaof a family compensating for the discontent in the public realm. Gender concepts and generationalissues turn out to be intertwined with theories of the political.