The Meaning of Family: A Metaphysical and Metabiological Introduction

Abstract

This study approaches the family not merely as a biological or sociological institution but as an ontological space grounded in the metaphysical and metabological foundations of human existence. The family constitutes the first place where the human being encounters the world, constructs meaning, develops moral intuitions, and forms an embodied and narrative sense of identity. Heidegger’s conception of space situates the family as the primary horizon of being-in-the-world, while Hegel’s theory of ethical life portrays it as the first communal unity grounded in love, trust, and reciprocity. Rawls’s model of moral development emphasizes that the sense of justice emerges initially within the family through stages of authority, cooperation, and principled reasoning.

Feminist critiques—especially those by Susan Moller Okin—illuminate how family structures may reproduce gender inequalities and shape distorted moral intuitions if they lack egalitarian foundations. Modern sociological perspectives further show that transformations in intimacy, the rise of individualization, and the fragility of contemporary relationships undermine the family’s role as a source of ontological security.

Drawn from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body, Buber’s relational ontology, Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity, and the attachment research of Bowlby and Fonagy, this study conceptualizes the family not only as a metaphysical domain but also as a neurobiological and affective matrix that shapes the foundations of trust, perception, and emotional understanding.

Ultimately, this work argues that the family must be understood beyond functionalist or reductionist biological approaches. It is presented as the originating space of human meaning, identity, moral reasoning, and existential grounding. The metaphysics and metabiology of the family reveal it as a constitutive environment for becoming human, transmitting values across generations, and cultivating the ontological security necessary for moral and social life.