Mark Schroeder
Class 6.2 Schroeder - Parenting
Today we continue our discussion of childhood, parenting, and growing up by reading my own response to Schapiro. You will see in the reading that I agree with many things that Schapiro says, but disagree about whether it is possible to draw any neat distinctions between who counts as a child and who counts as an adult for purposes of deciding how it is appropriate to treat them.
Childhood, Parenting, and Growing Up
According to the main idea in my article, paternalism is not treating someone like a child, but rather, treating them like you are their parent. Schapiro’s explanation of why it is less and less appropriate to treat someone paternalistically as they grow up is that they are acquiring new capacities to reason autonomously about their choices. The explanation that I offer in my paper is very different. It is that the reason why it is less and less appropriate to treat someone paternalistically as they grow up is that your opportunities to influence the shape of their character become smaller and smaller over time, for a variety of reasons that include that their character is becoming more fixed, and that the amount of time that you will have to influence them is less and less. It’s my suspicion that these two very different answers to this question are going to have very different things to say about whether it is reasonable for a 90-year old parent to treat their 65-year-old child paternalistically.
Mark Schroeder
This is the part of the daily assignment where I say something biographical about the author; if you are really bored enough to want to learn more about me you can, at www.markschroeder.net.
Kant
You will find as you read Schapiro’s article that she talks a lot about Kant and about “Kantian” ideas. Kant is an important historical philosopher who was writing and teaching philosophy in Prussia in the late 18th century and is by most accounts one of the leading candidates for having had one of the largest impacts in the history of philosophical ideas. Fortunately, you do not need to know very much about Kant in order to understand what Schapiro is saying - in any case, she would not want you to accept anything on authority that it is what Kant would say. I can answer any questions that you have about Kant that get in the way of your engaging with the article in class.
Reading
As you read my article, “Treating Like a Child”, ask yourself, “Why does it matter whether paternalism is relational or not?” “Who has a better answer about how we grow up gradually - Schapiro or Schroeder?” “Are there adults in my life who helped to mold me into who I am who were not granted that role through my parents’ permission?” “What do I think about the Earl/Tiger Woods example?” and “What follows from Schroeder’s account if my parents and I are both going to live forever?”