The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents :: Asian Philosphy Chinese Research

The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged ParentsABSTRACT any(prenominal) example philosophers in the West (e.g., Norman Daniels and Jane English) render that adult children sustain no more moral debt instrument to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much render their parents made for them or what misery their parents are presently suffering. This is because children do not subscribe to to be brought into the world or to be adopted. Therefore, there is a basic imbalance between parental and the filial obligations. I urge against the Daniels/English thesis by employing the traditional Confucian view of the character of filial obligation. On the basis of a distinction between moral duty and moral responsibility and the Confucian concept of justice, I argue that the filial obligation of adult children to make do respectfully for their senior(a) parents is not necessarily self-imposed. I conclude that collectable to the naturalistic character of the family, the nature of our familial obligations (such as parental compassionate for new-fangled children and adult childrens respectful caring for aged parents) cannot be consensual, contractarian and voluntarist, plainly instead existential, communal and historical. Some moral philosophers in the West hold that adult children do not have any more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them in the gone or what kinds of misery their parents are presently suffering. This is so, they claim, because children do not ask to be brought into this world or to be adopted. Thus, the traditional filial obligation of supporting and taking care of the aged is left as all the private responsibility of the elderly themselves or as a societal burden on the public. (1) For example, Norman Daniels argues that there is a basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations (Daniels, 1988, p.29). The parental obligation of caring for their young children, says Daniels, is a self-imposed duty, while the so-called childrens obligation of caring for their aged parents is non-self-imposed and thus cannot be morally required. (2) In her famous essay, What Do gravid Children Owe Their Parents, Jane English also claims that a favor done without it be requested or a voluntary sacrifice of one for other can only create a friendly gesture (Sommers & Sommers, 1993, pp. 758-765). It incurs incomplete an owing nor a moral obligation to reciprocate.