Overview

In The Ethics of Parenthood Norvin Richards explores the moral relationship between parents and children from slightly before the cradle to slightly before the grave. Richards maintains that biological parents do ordinarily have a right to raise their children, not as a property right but as an instance of our general right to continue whatever we have begun. The contention is that creating a child is a first act of parenthood, hence it ordinarily carries a right to continue as parent to that child. Implications are drawn for a wide range of cases, including those of Baby Jessica and Baby Richard, prenatal abandonment, babies switched at birth and sent home with the wrong parents, and families separated by war or natural disaster. A second contention is that children have a claim of their own to have their autonomy respected, and that this claim is stronger the better the grounds for believing that what the child's actions express is a self of the child's own. A final set of chapters concern parents and their grown children. Views are offered about what duties parents have at this stage of life, about what is required in order to treat grown children as adults, and about what obligations grown children have to their parents. In the final chapter Richards discusses the contention that parents sometimes have an obligation to die rather than permit their children to make the sacrifices needed to keep them alive, arguing that a leading view about this undervalues both love and autonomy.

Full Product Details

9780199731749

Table of Contents

Reviews

The writing is generally very clear. No specialized philosophical background is required and an intelligent lay reader could understand it. Its accessibility does not compromise its philosophical quality, however. The author wrestles with interesting problems and offers interesting and novel solutions. In this regard the book would make a significant contribution to the field.' David Benatar, Philosophy, University of Cape town

'The writing is generally very clear. No specialized philosophical background is required and an intelligent lay reader could understand it. Its accessibility does not compromise its philosophical quality, however. The author wrestles with interesting problems and offers interesting and novel solutions. In this regard the book would make a significant contribution to the field.' David Benatar, Philosophy, University of Cape town

Author Information

Norvin Richards is Professor of Philosophy at University of Alabama.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available