Summary of the reading
Jane English was a philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina. She believes that we have two types of relationships and they are reciprocity relationships and friendship relationships. She also makes us understand the “duties of friendships” and that “favors do create debts.” When you ask for a favor from someone and they help you out you are entering a debt, because if they later come back and ask you for a favor, you will feel compelled to do it because they did you a favor when you asked. However, when you are friends with someone, both of you share the same amount of sacrifice “but friendship is characterized by mutuality rather than reciprocity” (English 761). For example, you always give your friend a ride to work but one day you get caught up in the middle of something important, you should not drop what you are doing to give him a ride because he will understand. And that is why English gives us the difference between favors and friendship “friendship do not require equal sacrifices and the duties of friendship ends when the friendship ends” (English 761-762). She argues that grown children have no “filial obligations” to their parents. When she was asked, “what do grown children owe their parent?” (English 759) she clearly stated …show more content…
They have shaped me and molded me into who I am today and yes I feel obliged to do things for them to show my gratitude but it is not required of me by them. They are our parents be it biological or foster, but they can not own us no matter how much they might try to control our lives and thoughts because they do not own us. So is it okay to say we owe them letters, phone calls, help with finances etc. just because they made the choice of bringing us into the world? I think the answer lies in first two paragraphs of Kahlil Gibran’s poem “On
Jane English was a philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina. She believes that we have two types of relationships and they are reciprocity relationships and friendship relationships. She also makes us understand the “duties of friendships” and that “favors do create debts.” When you ask for a favor from someone and they help you out you are entering a debt, because if they later come back and ask you for a favor, you will feel compelled to do it because they did you a favor when you asked. However, when you are friends with someone, both of you share the same amount of sacrifice “but friendship is characterized by mutuality rather than reciprocity” (English 761). For example, you always give your friend a ride to work but one day you get caught up in the middle of something important, you should not drop what you are doing to give him a ride because he will understand. And that is why English gives us the difference between favors and friendship “friendship do not require equal sacrifices and the duties of friendship ends when the friendship ends” (English 761-762). She argues that grown children have no “filial obligations” to their parents. When she was asked, “what do grown children owe their parent?” (English 759) she clearly stated …show more content…
They have shaped me and molded me into who I am today and yes I feel obliged to do things for them to show my gratitude but it is not required of me by them. They are our parents be it biological or foster, but they can not own us no matter how much they might try to control our lives and thoughts because they do not own us. So is it okay to say we owe them letters, phone calls, help with finances etc. just because they made the choice of bringing us into the world? I think the answer lies in first two paragraphs of Kahlil Gibran’s poem “On