MARRIAGE AND THE GENERATION OF SOCIETY: Tom Cerber

A lot of the arguments over same sex marriage ignore the central question of what marriage *does* for a society. Not just for individuals, as many opponents of ss-m say it's for procreation, while supporters claim it's for recognition and psychological well-being for homosexuals.

I want to take a different angle. What is the good of marriage for a society, and one -- by its very nature -- wants to maintain itself over the course of time.

From this perspective, marriage is the primary institution by which a society perpetuates itself. Not only in terms of adding/sustaining the number of bodies and workers in a society, but also to transmit the values of a society from one generation to the next. Immigration would be another candidate, especially in sustaining the number of bodies and workers. However, I think asking immigrants to be responsible for transmitting the values of their NEW society is to be unjust toward them, especially since, as newcomers, they're leaving their old countries behind precisely to enter into, and to learn from, the new values of liberty, freedom, etc., that a liberal society is meant to stand for. ...

We need to address the reasons why our individualism has led us to regard marriage from one in which we suffer (in the religious and physical sense) the duties and responsibilities of being stewards of the one we love and the next generation. Love begets children and/or it begets speeches, as Socrates says, but one thing for certain is that it begets, it does not make contracts. Of course, our national media and political leadership are too crude to understand that difference the soul that begets and the will that contracts.

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posted by Eve at 8:20 PM | link

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