Resumen de Transmission of ethical and political values. A case for children's independence
In this thesis I am generally concerned with issues of justice and legitimacy in children’s upbringing. More specifically, I ask about the kind of reasons that ought to guide parent’s behaviour in transmitting values to children and about the kind of reasons they ought to refrain from being guided by. Moreover, I am concerned both about public policy issues and parents’ daily choices beyond their voting behaviour that have the relevant impact on how just aims and principles are advanced given the existing legal institutions. My answer to the main question is a liberal egalitarian one. It is inspired by John Rawls’ Political Liberalism and his ideal of public reason.
The first two chapters are devoted to the necessary preliminary work to answer my research question. Chapter One answers a fundamental objection against Rawls’ work questioning its theoretical consistency. Chapter Two puts forward the fundamental reasons, ideals and values we have to endorse the ideal of public reason by clarifying three distinct Rawlsian arguments for political liberalism. The following two chapters contain the theoretical core of the thesis. Chapter Three is devoted to the presentation of two common views liberal theorists have advanced as answers to the question about how liberal parents should respect children’s autonomy in upbringing and transmitting values to them. Chapter Four presents my revisionary answer to the question, which criticises various common arguments for violating the ideal of children’s ethical independence. The two final chapters are concerned with the specific case of language transmission. Again, Chapter Five presents two common views on the matter. And Chapter Six presents my alternative proposal based on the ideal of children’s independence. Finally, in Chapter Seven I summarise the conclusions reached during the thesis.
