This chapter discusses marriage and reproductive choice issues. The chapter argues that feminists have seen marriage and reproduction as playing a crucial role in women's oppression and thus a central topic of justice. The chapter starts by defining and setting out the historical development of the philosophy of marriage, which shapes today's debates. The chapter argues that many of the ethical positions on marriage can be understood as divided on the question of whether marriage should be defined contractually by the spouses or by its institutional purpose. The debate further divides on whether that purpose necessarily includes procreation or may be limited to the marital love relationship. The chapter closes by discussing reproduction choice, specifically abortion and commercial surrogacy.
Top12.1 Marriage
Marriage can refer to a legal contract and civil status, a religious rite and a social practice, all of which vary by legal jurisdiction, religious doctrine, and culture. While the contemporary ideal of marriage involves a relationship of love, friendship, or companionship, marriage historically functioned primarily as an economic and political unit used to create kinship bonds, control inheritance, and share resources and labour.
Plato (1997) argued that men and women should work together, and wives and children should be held in common. To orchestrate human breeding, temporary marriages would be made at festivals, where the rulers would secretly arrange matches. Resulting offspring would be taken from biological parents and reared anonymously in nurseries. The abolition of the private family was intended to discourage private interests at odds with the common good and the strength of the state.
Aristotle (1984) sharply criticised Plato’s proposal as unworkable. He argued that Plato erred in assuming that the natural love for one's own family can be transferred to all fellow-citizens. Aristotle also disagreed with Plato on gender roles in marriage. He argued that men and women express their excellences differently for he argued that “the courage of a man is shown in commanding, of a woman in obeying,” a complementarity which promotes the marital good.
Christian philosophers introduced a new focus on marriage as the sole permissible context for sex, marking a shift from viewing marriage as primarily a political and economic unit. St. Augustine (1998) condemns sex outside marriage and lust within it. Although procreation is the purpose of marriage, marriage does not morally rehabilitate lust. Instead, the reason for the individual marital sexual act determines its permissibility. Sex for the sake of procreation is not sinful, and sex within marriage solely to satisfy lust is a pardonable sin. As marital sex is preferable to extra-marital sex, spouses owe sex to protect against temptation, thereby sustaining mutual fidelity.