Just Parenthood

5-years research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) consolidator grant, based at the University of Basel.

A majority of people want to, and do in fact, become parents at some point in their lives. The decision to do so is one of the most consequential choices one can make. And everybody was a child once: The parent-child relationship shapes all our lives profoundly. There is a societal expectation that people become parents as a romantic couple, in groups of two, preferably within marriage. Laws in Western societies stipulate that parents enjoy a high degree of authority over their children, and exclusive decision-making powers over what concerns them, as well as serious responsibilities for their wellbeing that they cannot easily rid themselves of. Most parents are biologically related to their children. Yet, all these key features of parenthood can be questioned: It may be desirable (although not currently envisaged by the law) to co-parent with a friend rather than with a romantic partner, or with several other people rather than with just one other person. The degree of authority parents currently exert over their children may be unjustified, leaving children overly vulnerable to their parents. Biological connection could turn out to be normatively irrelevant to parenthood. These questions are not merely theoretical in nature. Societal changes and advances in reproductive technologies have rendered them pressing practical matters.

This research project develops a novel institutionalist account of parenthood, which will help clarify the normative foundations of parenthood and at the same time provide a theoretical framework for new forms of co-parenting. Existing normative accounts of parenthood attempt to answer the question of parental rights and duties directly by pointing to (valuable) features of the family and the interests of children and/or parents, then building on this to defend a particular institutional setting for parenthood. The same method is used for determining who is a parent – existing accounts identify who is a parent by homing in on a particular feature, such as the intention to parent, and then defending its normative relevance. This new research project proceeds with an indirect institutionalist approach instead, asking what a just institution of parenthood looks like overall, and then infers rights, duties, and justified resource claims concerning parenthood from such a theory. It considers all the parties involved (including non-parents) and addresses the normative basis of parenthood, the content of parental rights and duties, and parental resource claims together to build a coherent whole. Developing this account is a highly ambitious aim that would move the field forward significantly. It will help us meet, inter alia, the following research needs:

First, the normative relevance of biological connection is currently highly disputed and the institutionalist account to be developed in the course of the project opens up a useful new perspectiv on this problem.

Second, there are deep-seated, limiting conceptual assumptions about parenthood that should be questioned, which this project does, thereby developing a novel normative framework for diverse parenthood constellations.

Third, there is an increasing pressure to justify parenthood’s special status in society. The project directly tackles this challenge by examining impartial justifications for parenthood’s status.

Fourth, there is an urgent need to address the neglected topic of co-parenthood, as new family forms and ways of co-parenting emerge, and the project will make a significant contribution towards this.