夫婦の性関係の安定と子供の利益
いま考察すべき問題は,子供の利益のためには,どの程度の性関係の安定が必要なのか,ということである。つまり(that is to say 言い換えれば),安定した結婚を求める理由としての家族を考察しなければならない。この問題は,決して簡単なものではない。家族の一員であることから子供が受ける利益は,明らかに,家族に代わるものが何であるかによっている。たとえば,大部分の家族よりも望ましいくらい,賞賛すべき捨て子の施設が存在するかもしれない。 また,父親は,家庭生活において何か必須の役割を果たしているかどうかも考察しなければならない。なぜなら,女性の貞操(virtues)が家族にとって必須と考えられてきたのは,ただ父親のため(on his account)であるからである。 子供の個人的な心理に及ぼす家族の影響も考察しなければならない-これは,フロイトがいささか意地悪い精神で扱った主題(問題)である。経済体制の影響でいかに父親の(役割の)重要性が増したり減じたりするかについても考察しなければならない。 国家が父親の代わりを,あるいはことによると,プラトンが言ったように,父親と母親の双方の代わりをすることを望むのかどうかについて,自問しなければならない。 また(さらに),普通の場合,両親が揃っていることが子供にとって最上の環境であることを認めるにしても,なお,どちらか一方(one or other)が親の責任を果たすのにふさわしくないとか,二人(両親/夫婦)がひどく不和なので,子供のためには別れた方が望ましい,とかいった,非常に多くの事例を考察しなければならない。 |
Chapter XIII: Family at present day, n.1The reader may by this time have forgotten that in Chapters II and Ill we considered matrilineal and patriarchal families, and their bearing upon primitive views of sexual ethics. It is now time to resume the consideration of the family, which affords the only rational basis for limitations of sexual freedom. We have come to the end of a long parenthesis on Sex and Sin, a connection not invented by the early Christians, but exploited by them to the uttermost, and embodied now in the spontaneous moral judgments of most of us. I shall not trouble further with the theological view that in sex as such there is something wicked which can only be eliminated by the combination of marriage with the desire for offspring. The subject we have now to consider is the degree of stability in sex relations demanded by the interests of children. That is to say, we have to consider the family as a reason for stable marriage. This question is far from simple. It is clear that the gain which a child derives from being a member of a family depends upon what the alternative is : there might be institutions for foundlings so admirable that they would be preferable to the great majority of families. We have also to consider whether any essential part in family life is played by the father, since it is only on his account that feminine virtue has been thought essential to the family. We have to examine the effect of the family upon the individual psychology of the child - a subject dealt with in a somewhat sinister spirit by Freud. We have to consider the effect of economic systems in increasing or diminishing the importance of the father. We have to ask ourselves whether we should wish to see the State taking the place of the father, or possibly even, as Plato suggested, of both father and mother. And even supposing that we decide in favour of both father and mother as affording the best environment for the child in normal cases, we still have to consider the very numerous instances in which one or other is unfit for the responsibility of parenthood, or the two are so incompatible that separation is desirable in the interests of the child. |