4 - The Moral and Legal Status of Children and Parents

Summary

Certain festivals will be established by law at which we shall bring the brides and grooms together. … As the children are born, officials appointed for the purpose … will take them.

INTRODUCTION

Children and their parents are, of course, intimately related. Many of our most closely held values and personal preferences flow, and indeed much of our moral identity arises, from our experiences in familial life. Socrates recognized this in The Republic and proposed that the bond be immediately severed as one means to secure a more just society for all citizens of the state. It might be tempting to dismiss this radical suggestion as an antiquated idea of Greek philosophy, but we would be short-changing ourselves by doing so. Through provocation, Socrates and Plato challenge us to think deeply about the nature of human good, the purpose of human life, and as a consequence, about procreation, child rearing, and the role of parents and the state in acting as responsible custodians for future generations. They further remind us that any descriptive account of the moral and legal status of children and parents must be built on certain core assumptions that, however widely shared, may or may not ultimately prove justifiable. A modest goal for this chapter is to introduce these concerns to the reader without presuming conclusive answers.