The Fragmenting Family

by Almond, Brenda

• ISBN13: 9780199267958
• ISBN10: 0199267952
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Brenda Almond throws down a timely challenge to liberal consensus about personal relationships. She maintains that the traditional family is fragmenting in Western societies, and that this fragmentation is a cause of serious social problems. She urges that we reconsider our attitudes to sex and reproduction in order to strengthen our most important social institution, the family.

Author Biography

Brenda Almond is Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Philosophy of the University of Hull and Vice-President of the Society for Applied Philosophy. She has served on the Human Genetics Commission and with the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority in the United Kingdom and her books include The Philosophical Quest (Penguin, 1990) and Exploring Ethics: A Traveller's Tale (Blackwell, 1998).

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(8)
Part I. Understanding family: Philosophy's contribution
1. Family	9	(13)
2. Permanent relations? Love, marriage, and philosophical lives	22	(22)
3. From philosophy to law	44	(14)
4. Feminist aims, family consequences	58	(27)
Part II. Shaping families: Science's contribution
5. Having and not having children	85	(13)
6. New reproductive technologies: Whose human rights?	98	(25)
Part III. New frontiers: Family, law, and politics
7. Family choices: What do children really want?	123	(23)
8. Law, policy-making, and the contemporary family	146	(25)
Part IV. Preserving identities: A future for the family?
9. Family, identity, and community	171	(17)
10. Finding a way through the wood	188	(20)
Notes	208	(30)
Biblioqraphy	238	(17)
Index	255