According to Hegel’s concept of the ethical life of the family, it is very essential to have the love which is said to be the spirit of feeling of ones own strength of mind of being united as one. Therefore for one it is not good to be an independent person but rather foster the consciousness to be bound by the ethical unity of love. Moreover, the conscious mind of being united with another person in a family is collectively known as love so that one does not stay on his own but rather have the consciousness of identifying ones own unity with another person hence love is ethical in its natural existence. Where two persons gain recognition from one another, there is contradiction of love which is its resolution and its product. Since the resolution is its ethics. (Hegel,158).The relationship of natural sexes which is inward, through transformation becomes self conscious love within the spiritual unity.
Also, an ethical relationship which was presumed was under the most systems of natural law which was based on its physical and natural existence. This was only based on the existence of sexual relationship where the other determinants were left out. It is difficult to interpret marriage as a civil entity, marriage is said to give a contractual aspect to voluntary relations between individuals and no persons intending to use or depend on another person. Similarly, it is unethical to equate love with marriage, this is because love as a feeling, is said to be open to all unforeseen cases and is said to be assumed in an ethical relationship.(Hegel, pg162). Since marriage is not a contractual entity it begins from the contract point of view. This gives the family an individual personality and its entity as a self sufficient unit and its member as its associates.
Rights which an individual owns by the virtue of the family unit which is primarily in his life takes legal direction as the abstract moment of the determined individual only and when the family begins to diminish or rather dissolve. In this case those who ought to be the rightful members of the family essentially become self sufficient people in that they can then receive independently and in a purely external manner for example things like food, financial resources, and cost of learning i.e. this is what was actually due to them while they were still dependent on the family. Moreover, the family rights should be substantial and have existence in the sense that there is a right against externality and defection from the family unit. Love in itself being a feeling and being subjective in character and unity is not an exemption to this.
It is therefore an ethical duty to enter the state of marriage with an objective determination i.e. the external origin of marriage is said to be insufficient by nature and is dependent on a particular level of reflective thought. The first step is taken by parent who has well and good intentions. Person intending to be united in love get to know each other with the fellow destined partner with mutual perspective.
In marriage one may speak of the relationship as a natural function which in the case of extra marital relationship would bring a shameful feeling hence regarding marriage as insoluble for the end of it is unethical i.e. it is subject to authority and should not be disrupted by passion. Divorce is only allowed because of the hardness of hearts and since marriage contains a moment of feelings it is unstable and thus it is subject to dissolution or breakage. As there is transfer of property by law, there should also be acknowledgement and consent to ethically bond marriage recognition and confirmation by the family members and recognition by the community at large. This means that there should be formality in the marriage after which , there is a substantial completion using signing as the most spiritual existence that the bond has been ethically created.
The family as a person has the external role in possession of property. And its substantial personality existence was in resources acquisition. Besides this family having property, it incurs the need for possession which determines its permanency and security. Transformation along with the selfishness brought by the desires to care for and acquisition of property for the benefit of the community which fosters the ethical quality.
Aspects Of Hegel’s Theory Which Are Still Relevant
Through personality principle of which the family disintegrates in a natural manner through which relation between individuals is common than that of self sufficiency of persons. This implies that the family as an institution is bound together by the ethical issue which is still in its concept must be done away to achieve self sufficiency. The family enlargement from one to another exists due to peaceful expansion whereby it results to a nation or a country with one single common, natural origin. In addition to that, merging of separate families in the community is due to powerful unity fostered by personal needs and corresponding satisfaction. Here the main issue of self sufficiency implying that ethical life is lost since it is where the family gains its identity which is consciously regarded as its obligation. (Hegel, pg 219)
The ethical idea remains in that marriage is still the only intermediary and that its aims of disposition and emotional feelings gives rise to the iniquities of the existence of its own. Once the partner’s action in their relationship has become different from each others opinion. There is no sense to marry and therefore there could be no formal bond to keep them as one.
The Role Of Men And Women In The Family Life
In the family men are regarded as some of the most important members when it comes to various stages of life of which he must be determined to work and struggle in the world personally on behalf of the family. Through this, men will be able to provide for themselves and sufficiently for the family to ensure there is unity in the family through his role that he plays. However within the family it is men’s responsibility of ensuring that there is a peaceful feeling of unity among members of the family with emotional and subjective purpose to moral life.
However, women play various roles in the family with their considerable career and their moral character being passed between members of the family. This kind of role among women is presented as law of emotive with personal substantiality of inwardness which is not fully actualized as law. (Hegel, pg 206) Most women in the family life may be educated but they are not influenced with the new revolution in the health sciences concerning reproduction hence it is their responsibility to reproduce and have proper scientific reproductive measures. Apart from having insight, taste and delicacy they do not posses the family ideal.
Just like the animals are seemingly closer in character to men and the plant to woman, it is similar to the responsibility of women in providing peaceful relationships to men with the principle of more indeterminate unity of feelings. A part from that, women are also in charge of the family as an institution of which she plays a major role in regulating the conduct, action based not only on the universal demands but also on contingent inclination and opinion. In terms of education, women take the responsibility of ensuring that the family members obtain education through the atmosphere of representational thought more so through life experiences than the mere acquisition of knowledge.
To increase the family achievement, men remain the head of the family only through the attainment of thought or contributing ideas towards several technical exertions that the family may encounter. (Hegel, p207) As a legal institution, the husband represent the family to the people as the head.Apart from that his primary role for external achievement is to ensure that the family is well cared for through the provision of various basic needs as well as control and administration of the family’s available resources.
Men are too responsible to the family common property and provide security to them so that no other family member can interfere even when it comes to distribution of these resources. However, the right and control of the resources by the men may come into conflict because the ethical disposition is immediate and exposed to particularization and contingency. (Hegel p209)
In marriage settlements, the woman takes the role to seek legal support on common ownership of the partners’ goods or property. This is important as they contribute towards the dissolution of marriage in a situation where one of the partners had passed away or divorce occurs. In the absence of men, women also guarantee to share out the family common property which was preserved.
Many legal codes relate to the family in various ways of which it unites each member of the family who appeared to be less important in comparison. Thus in compliance to older Roman law, women are less binding in the marriage because they tend to be closer to her kinsfolk than to her children and husband. However, in the era of feudal law heading the family was by men who in turn regarded the family as a whole to be the most important factor from the view of which the family is newly constituted. (Hegel pg 210)
However, in the family life, both men and women are responsible for creating love between them because even feeling will contribute feeling which substantial unity with out possession of objectivity is. In addition to that, both men and women attain this unity through there children who act like a symbol for unity of which the women love there husband and men love there women. ( Hegel p211)
Women and men also have the role of upbringing up there children. This role is still played by providing emotional support and guidance to them without any resistance as the basis of ethical life is love, trust and obedience.However, both men and women should ensure that there are no negative influences on the child’s life by maintaining the determination of raising the children in their natural surroundings which they originally encountered at their early life stage. ( Hegel p212)
Women in marriage life play the role of matron. They continue to belong to the family from which she came rather than to the family which through marriage she had partly founded and now she has control of (Hegel p216)
In Rome, men in earlier history of marriage life could disinherit his children with the possibility of even killing them but this was prohibited. Efforts were made to introduce a system of which this incongruity between men and there children may be limited. However, men are supposed to play a major role in providing parental love to their children which is so-called family of friendship within family life.( Hegel p218).
An individual is supposed not to consider him/herself as an autonomous block in the family but as part of it as group because the family is considered as the direct result of will. It emphasizes on the individual’s harmony which is love. On page 191, Hegel defines love as the universal perception of one’s unity with another. He further describes it as a reaction of moral being in its ordinary state. Some of the rights of individuals in the family are to be discussed on the basis that one depends on the others and does not exist as a single block. Whenever a family becomes disintegrated and the members move out on their own. Some rights are violated and some end up fending for themselves what they were being offered previously such as children to provide for themselves basic needs. There are three ways in which a family fully comes into existence; through marriage, uniting possessions and management of the resources and also the rearing of offspring.
All individual rights are put into consideration only when the family is at peace and unity is observed by the members. Each individual has his or her different roles to perform and this is what brings about the union of the family.
On marriage, this amalgamation between the two opposite sexes which was basically from their inner feelings changes and becomes a self-aware adoration. In the early years, marriage was seen as a moral affiliation between two people and individuals put their policies basing on corporeal aspects such as sex. Most societies would not claim that only love is the basic foundation of love. Therefore marriage is meant for the individuals to put aside their differences and put into consideration fast the interests of their spouses which will give them a piece of mind. A wider range of societies claim that individuals on the right track are those who decide to marry before weighing the other aspects and components of their relationship. In both written and performed literature that portrays love as the fundamental issue in a marriage situation, we see the couples having a feeling of wickedness and may have wide range of importance to the individual. In most cases the societies which regard the females as a weaker sex, the parents organize marriage without consulting the partners in question and are forced by circumstances to follow the orders. They claim that the man’s major need is to find a woman and a woman’s great need is to get a man. In other cases, families consider wealth and social class as a determining factor. This highly affects the relationship and claims that one can only offer his or her love to a specific person in a society. Marriage is supposed to be viewed as contract between two people and every individual’s part of the agreement has to be fulfilled.
The Encyclopedia of The Philosophical Sciences describes the family as ‘a person and the members of the family as its accident. An individual’s family portrays many outward and inward characteristics of the person and it is in this essence that the religious attributes of marriage are personified. If the sacred and ample is separated from the reality in such a way that the sensitivity and the unconsciousness of spiritual integration are grouped as what is presumed to be what is called platonic love. Hegel further claims that marriage greatly differs from the art of just staying together as two since having a concubine is solely concerned with fulfillment of the bodily wants. This proves why partners in a marriage relationship may openly discuss some issues that one cannot comfortably talk about in a natural friendship as it may result to an embarrassment. Marriage should not be determined by zeal. To conclude the lawful determinations of marriage, it is required that one identifies the possible result of the relationship and this is to be considered as the individual’s expectation of the whole amalgamation. This aims or expectations are to be fulfilled during the early stages of the affair before the parties can fully entrust themselves to one another. In page 205, Hegel states that such opinions only claim to impart the highest conception of liberty, inwardness and accomplishment of love. This is assumed from the fact that the consciousness arises from its genuineness and can be put to test to base on the idea of its significance. According to Friedrich Von Schlegel, marriage is a ceremony which is not so necessary and can be done away with because love is the only element that should be put into consideration to ensure that it does not overwrite the aim of the union. He further states that physical attachment is essential to show the liberty and amount of love. Most societies favor the man’s position on sexual affairs as opposed to women. The man gets a sense of conquest over the woman who feels at a loss in terms of dignity. In page 208, Hegel puts down that marriage is supposed to take place between people of two different families free from blood relations. This is because those in a family are already bonded or linked and therefore do not require a marriage link. The family may be suffering from a certain disease which is hereditary and will automatically be passed on to the offspring. Acquaintance to each other and sharing of chores should not be put into practice before marriage occurs but instead it should be brought about in the marriage. After marriage, all the two individuals in the union have equal rights to access property that belongs to the other.
In page 209, Hegel identifies the father as the legal head of a home and is also the bread-winner of the home. He is supposed to control and manage the family’s property and therefore the individual property which one owned before marriage is supposed to be viewed as the family’s resource and should not be exposed to individualization. Some agreements have to be reached upon as to put the woman in a position where she will continue to receive an obvious share of the common resources of the family whenever the husband passes away or walk out of the relationship.
It has also been observed that some individuals in a marriage affair have ill motives and tend to fend for themselves only and leave the others without minding their needs or requirements. This at times is highlighted as irresponsible behavior which some parents practice some irresponsible behavior such as overindulgence in alcohol and unfaithfulness. Some children also start using drugs at a very early age thus exposing themselves to risks of being infected with a list of dangerous diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
Concerning the upbringing and education of children, the roles are divided between the two parents though it mainly focuses on the idea that this should come fro the inner self of the person and should not take it as if he or she has no other option apart from doing so. All children have been entitled to education by the family and some countries also have gone to the extent of offering free primary or even secondary education. The child is under the care of the parents and is subject to discipline or punishment he or she makes a mistake. This is supposed to be observed until when the child attains adulthood and is handed to the law. In page 211, Hegel says that human beings cannot achieve some individual goals automatically but has to put into practice all the processes involved for the attainment of the final result.
In initiating discipline and intelligence to the children, one is not supposed to tell the children exactly what to do but instead to provide the children with reason and they are given peace to decide how they are going to react to the issue; either positively or negatively. Since the parents play a big role in the upbringing of children, the children have no other option but to remain loyal to the parents wish. This implants the feeling and yearning to grow up and they become forward and insolent.
Parents however have been warned not to take children as their property and treat them anyhow but instead to consider them as independent individuals and early emotional development may be lived as the foundation of morality in love and loyalty. The need for development is available in children as their sense of discontentment inwardly at the way they are as the urge to be part of the adult world. They would always wish to mature faster so that they can achieve dominance as their elders. This basically may end up in making the children to detach themselves from the ordinary elements of existence of the family and is considered as a negative impact in their personality.
The Roman community has a different view. They see children as slaves of the society in which they belong. Earlier on, the fathers were allowed to disown their offspring or even kill them. This was later stopped as it was opposed to many moral norms including the fact that according to the Roman law which are mainly drawn from the church, it is a sin to kill. In page 212, Hegel states that one of the best ways to educate a child is through play because the child is given room to display and practice all the creativity in them and make them feel proud of what they are. This puts in the children solidness and strength to face the spiritual aspect of humanity. When still very small, the child is to be treated with love, care and trust by the parents so that they can acquire all these and express all these attitudes towards others. In most cases, parents love their children much more than the children do and this increases as the children grow more independent and learn to be on their own. In some occasions, parents should teach their children on what they do for a living. This may be in a situation such as a farmer who has a son as the only heir. This child has to know how to handle the parent’s property as he grows up so that incase of a situation such as death, the child will remain comfortable with the family’s property and would need to sell it out or leave it for outsiders. This is a point that is mentioned by Hegel in page 219. This was agreed upon because some people attained Wills illegally that allowed them to inherit property. Some people also write their wills basing on the affection that they have on the individuals in the family. And if this was to be followed, some children would not have their rights practiced.
References
George W.F. Hegel – the role of family in Hegel’s concept of modern ethical life