I asked ChatGPT the following question and received the following response. I have transcribed it here for your reference.
1) After Arendt
Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958) is often cited as the first systematic introduction of the sphere of intimacy. For Arendt, intimacy belonged to the realm of necessity (life, reproduction, family) and was opposed to the public sphere (action, speech, politics). Later debates developed along two major directions:
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Feminist theory (1970s–): Thinkers such as Carole Pateman, Nancy Fraser, and Seyla Benhabib criticized Arendt’s scheme. They argued that the public/private divide is itself politically constructed and that the intimate sphere (family, care) is not “natural” but socially and politically produced.
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Ethics of care (1980s–): Carol Gilligan and Joan Tronto reinterpreted intimacy as the locus of care and demanded its public recognition, thus reversing Arendt’s “apolitical” definition.
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Sociology (1990s–): Anthony Giddens (The Transformation of Intimacy, 1992) described intimacy as a “pure relationship” tied to individual self-realization, shifting from Arendt’s “necessity” toward identity formation.
2) Before Arendt
Although Arendt coined the explicit phrase sphere of intimacy, she drew on a long genealogy of thought distinguishing family/private life from public/political life:
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Aristotle (Politics): distinction between oikos (household, necessity) and polis (public good).
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John Locke (Two Treatises of Government, 1689): separated paternal power (family) from political power (state).
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Social Contract, Émile, 1762): distinguished natural affection (family) from civic virtue (politics).
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Hegel (Philosophy of Right, 1821): conceptualized family as a sphere of love and intimacy, leading dialectically to civil society and the state.
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Tocqueville (Democracy in America, 1835–40): analyzed transformations of family and gender relations in democratic society.
Arendt thus redefined this tradition for the 20th century, providing the groundwork for later feminist, ethical, and sociological debates.
Table: Intellectual Genealogy of the Sphere of Intimacy
| Period |
Thinker / Work |
View on Intimacy or Private Sphere |
Connection to Arendt |
| Antiquity |
Aristotle, Politics |
Oikos (household, necessity) vs. Polis (public good) |
Origin of the necessity/publicity dichotomy |
| Early Modern |
John Locke, Two Treatises (1689) |
Family (paternal power) separated from political authority |
Basis for family as non-political domain |
| Modern |
Rousseau, Social Contract / Émile (1762) |
Natural affection vs. civic virtue |
Intimacy = natural, non-political sphere |
| Modern |
Hegel, Philosophy of Right (1821) |
Family = community of love and intimacy → civil society, state |
Intimacy as a root communal element |
| Modern |
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835–40) |
Family and gender under democracy |
Intimacy shaped by political institutions |
| 20th c. |
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958) |
Sphere of intimacy = domain of necessity, opposed to the public |
Critical redefinition of public/private |
| Postwar |
Feminist theory (Pateman, Fraser, Benhabib) |
Public/private divide as power-laden; intimacy as political |
Critical continuation of Arendt |
| Postwar |
Ethics of care (Gilligan, Tronto) |
Intimacy as locus of care, deserving public recognition |
Reversal of Arendt’s “apolitical” stance |
| Postwar |
Sociology (Giddens, Transformation of Intimacy 1992) |
Intimacy as “pure relationship,” identity formation |
Intimacy as key to late modernity |
References
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Aristotle, Politics, esp. Book I–III.
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John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689).
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social (1762); Émile (1762).
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G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1821).
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Alexis de Tocqueville, De la démocratie en Amérique (1835–40).
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Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958).
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Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract (1988).
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Nancy Fraser, Unruly Practices (1989); Justice Interruptus (1997).
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Seyla Benhabib, Situating the Self (1992).
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Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice (1982).
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Joan Tronto, Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care (1993).
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Anthony Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy (1992).
The above is ChatGPT creation (20250826).
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