I would like to write a commentary piece regarding how the broadening of modern concepts have led to the change in the nature of parent-child relationships. The traditional “natural” model of heterosexual parents corpulating and biologically giving birth to their children, has been changed by
- adoptions —> being able to choose their offsprings ==> reproduction is no longer bound by the bio-normative standards + the act of procuring a child becomes more of social event rather than a biological process + the parents can in some way control more the type of off-springs they get (Paul)
- surrogacies —> outsourcing the process of pregnancy alienates the “natural” process of reproduction + the birth parents would not experience such a gradual ontic change that they would have had during the pregnancy phase to become so biologically bonded to the child (Paul/ Brennan and Jaworski/ Anderson)
- modifications and/ or genetic enhancements —> being able to explicitly select their children’s characteristics (Kamm/ Brennan and Jaworski/ Chambers)
- the direct influence of socio-political factors —> one-child policies/ abortion rights —> the consideration of bearing children are much more intentional (Could drop if too tangentially related)
All of these elements push toward a more “alienated” and potentially “exploitative” relationship between the parent and child, that’s close to that of a producer and a product, that is very explicitly and accurately imagined in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where the selection, conditioning, making, and destiny of the child sets in far before it’s born; and the act of reproduction is under complete control. (This should be mentioned as a “thought experiment of some sort, since this paper is still supposed to be leaning more toward an analytical philosphy appraoch). And Compared to the traditional models, the parents’ control over the child’s life has expanded tremendously, and the child loses a sense of freedom or autonomy, as their identity formation becomes much less the result of their own “natural” growth but the intentional making of the parents. All the following sources need to be cited, but you only have to go into depth with maybe just one or two of them.