DI CHIARA DI MARCO
ABSTRACT – The essay addresses the contemporary crisis of the notion of the legal subject by interrogating the foundations of modern legal thought through the categories of feminist theory. The figure of the subject, constructed around a model of proprietary autonomy and disembodied rationality, has historically operated as a mechanism of exclusion, concealing an androcentric structure of power beneath the guise of legal universalism. Drawing on the tradition of natural law and the subsequent theoretical shift introduced by modern philosophy, the essay highlights how the universalism of the subject has presupposed the exclusion of the feminine: the social contract is grounded in an implicit sexual contract that assigns women a subordinate position. Building on this premise, the essay brings into dialogue several strands of feminist philosophy, conceived as critical tools capable of unveiling the political dimension of law and orienting its conceptual renewal. From this perspective, the crisis of the subject becomes an opportunity to rethink its premises: autonomy is reframed as a relational practice, vulnerability as a principle of interdependence and shared responsibility, and subjectivity as a dynamic space of negotiation and transformation.
KEYWORDS – legal subject – feminist theory – autonomy – vulnerability – universalism – subjectivity.