Poly

“Rather, what children ought to do for their parents (and parents for children) depends upon (1) their respective needs, abilities, and resources and (2) the extent to which there is an ongoing friendship between them” (English). So that’s the argument.

Honestly I’m pretty bored by this subject. The answer is either so obvious that it’s a non-answer. That’s how I feel about English by the way. Or it’s just some premise that’s not an argument it’s just some ontological lesson on the importance of filial piety. I’m not interested in the debate as it stands, but I think that’s because I don’t like the atomic family. I don't like the family as it stands. I like English’s reasoning, which boils down to a simple thought. There’s nothing special about parents or kids that warrants obligation. We probably only think that way because we understand obligations or at least friendliness among friends (there’s that obviousness) and family are very likely to become friends. I’d be more interested in a thought experiment to see where I can move this around.

            In a polyamorous family obligations could get very complicated. Say there’s a generation of parents, all equally responsible for raising the children. Now the children, if they are friends with their parents ought to do something, if they have the resources. But wait, if the  group of parents is large enough, taking care of them could be as complex and full of opportunity costs as a small society (let’s go big, at least 100 parents living commune style). Any one person surely couldn’t help the whole family and quite possibly isn’t friendly with everyone! Should we only give medical care to the people we like? What scares me most is that this pans out on a societal level. The state is a paternal idea. It is supposed to help keep infrastructure intact, the world clean (safe to live in at least) and provide medicine and education. Yet I’m not on friendly terms with politicians and I don’t think most anyone is (I’m sure thousands or millions are, but that’s a drop in the bucket of hundreds of millions). And I’m all grown up, so I’m not obliged to anything? What I think I’m getting down to is that treating your parents with the same standards as anyone else is probably a good idea. It’s the way we treat everyone else that needs another look.