Family

At the center of moral philosophy in the Western tradition has been the notion that human beings should always be treated as ends in themselves, rather than as means to other ends. This principle can be found in the works of moral theorists as disparate as Aristotle, Aquinas, Maimonides, and Kant. One need only a passing acquaintance with history to see that treating people as means rather than ends has been a core feature of tyranny and oppression down through the ages. To define a person principally in terms of the functions that person can serve is to render them an interchangeable part, replaceable by any other person who can perform the same functions. The mechanical anonymity of such persons, however, provides no grounds for what everyday human beings in fact find most meaningful about each other.

In creating and delivering a public school curriculum that sought to reduce risk-taking behavior among adolescents, my colleague Chris Wallace and I sensed that the major factors in fostering or reducing destructive patterns of behavior were the beliefs, values and moral commitments of the students themselves. Although it is true there is not a one-to-one correlation between one’s beliefs and one’s behavior, the association of the two dimensions is strong. Nevertheless, we felt that to affect student behavior with a curriculum, the content could not escape examining values, beliefs and commitments—especially those related to the ethical and moral domain.

Helen Alvaré, professor at George Mason University, discusses the benefits of roles in marriage and family, rebutting trending thought against gender roles.

Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George defend marriage between a man and woman and the benefits that accompany the practice.

Brad Wilcox, professor at the University of Virginia, argues for earlier marriages, providing evidence that waiting to marry creates more risks, including reduced quality of an eventual marriage, if marriage happens at all.

Robert George, professor at Princeton University, uses natural to argue that marriage is defined as between a man and woman.

Catherine Pakaluk, professor at Ave Maria University, defines and defends the "natural family" as a married man, woman, and their offspring, and discusses forces degrading its structure.

W. Bradford Wilcox, professor at the University of Virginia, reflects on the ways a natural law perspective fits what is now known scientifically about how marriage matters and why marriage matters to children.