Dr Zrinko Novosel attended the international academic conference Women, Men and Other Animals – ISIH 2025, held at Aarhus University from 11 to 13 June. Organised by the International Society for Intellectual History, the event featured research presentations by more than 60 participants and three keynote lectures by leading scholars in intellectual history.
In the first presentation of the session entitled What is ‘the Human’?, Dr Novosel delivered his talk, Man, Woman and the Enlightened ‘Differentia Specifica’ – Polygyny and Polyandry. His research explored the emergence of legal maxims in the works of professors from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Zagreb, examining how these reflected the differing legal and social status of men and women under natural law in the late Enlightenment.
You can download the presentation and view the photo gallery below!
Abstract:
The topics of human nature and laws which govern it were among the most discussed within the enlightened intellectual community. The term ’human’ in this context was clearly set aside from the rest of natural world, but seldomly discussed as multilayered with regards to gender. That is why a legal axiom taught to law students in the 18th-century Kingdom of Hungary invokes curiosity for stating: “Polyandry is contrary to natural law, but polygyny is not.“ This paper will investigate from which legal tradition and why did this fragment of knowledge appear in an otherwise gender-indifferent discussions on natural law.
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