Criticism of Li's Argument

At the risk of sounding ethnocentric, I have several critiques of Li’s Confucian arguments about what adults owe their parents, and agree more with English’s argument.  I definitely have ideas developed unconsciously through living in the United States.  I do not deny that family values are different depending on the culture individuals were raised under.  That being said, I find serious flaws in Li’s argument as prescribed to the entire world.  Family values in China are often very strong, and the culture of respect is quite different than it is in other countries.  Though this should not be important to the ethics of what adults owe to their parents, it very much is. 

Li explains that family obligation extends to children regardless of their love for their parents.  My first objection to Li is his narrow amount of cases he provides.  He does not regard cases where the family is entirely neglectful of their child.   This can happen in many ways.  If one extends the definition of “parenting” or “raising a child” to an international degree, it is challenging to establish a concrete meaning and level of rules for doing so.  Li considers the culture of China, but does not consider the applications in other cultures with different traditions and expectations.  This in itself can be argued as ethnocentric.  Li projects the notion that parents always (or at least often) raise, protect, and sacrifice for their children, when in reality it is untrue.  This premise is false, which weakens Li’s argument that children owe something to their parents.  Li does not account for the parents who refuse any responsibility for their children.  What about the parent who abuses, does not feed enough to, or emotionally abuses their children?  What if a parent does not care for their child when they are sick? They have developed a weak responsibility to their children.  Children cannot owe care and positive attention to those who have treated them so negatively.  In fact, under Li’s logic, they would owe their parents the treatment they were given.  Li argues that since one’s parents raised them and sacrificed for them, they owe the same respect, but fails to account for parents who neglect their children.  He neglects to mention when exactly it becomes necessary to care for one’s parents.  At what point are parents old and sick enough to need care?  He also neglects to address the case where the parents refuse help.