All in the family

Excerpt

The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines the family as “a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of spouses, parents, children, and siblings.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2019). Historically, the family—as a social unit—has undergone significant changes, for example as a result of technological innovations and associated societal transformations such as those during the Neolitic or the Industrial revolution. These changes to the social structure of the family have continued to occur in modern times as is evidenced by the rise of single-parent families, reconstituted families, same sex couples, cohabiting couples, and voluntary childless couples. Unsurprisingly, technological innovations and societal transformations have not only changed the social structure of the family. They have also altered its moral fabric and thus triggered new questions of family ethics. The first two papers in the issue at hand focus on two such questions. The first involves parental responsibilities, the second filial obligations. …