Marriage: Good or Bad?
The debate of same-sex marriage has been going on for years, leading people to question not just gay marriage but marriage itself. Claudia Card and John Finnis are both against same-sex marriage, yet their reasons are vastly different. Card argues that traditional marriage itself is harmful therefore same-sex couples shouldn’t fight for it. Finnis argues that traditional marriage is a valuable institution and allowing same-sex couples to marry would be harmful to society. The two have almost polar opposite ideas on whether traditional marriage is beneficial or not. While I do see some truth in Finnis’ argument, I believe that Card is correct and that traditional marriage is indeed more harmful to society and that …show more content…
Finnis believes that marriage is a “basic human good” and that changing the tradition of marriage would be harmful to society. He claims that marriage does two key things: it makes the husband and wide grow both as individuals and a couple, and it leads to having children in the most positive way. He also believes that the legal part of marriage should be focused on keeping these ideals intact, and he is extremely against premarital sex. Finnis believes that making a powerful commitment of marriage to someone and sticking to it makes people good, and that sticking to a commitment means the results of this goodness are more permanent. He writes “The commitment of marriage has the motivating intelligibilities, the sufficiently attractive and desirable reasons already mentioned: as enabling us two to help each other as friends, lovers, who can hand on our life in the procreation of new persons….” (Page 390) The argument I have against this claim is similar to the argument’s people had against Phaedrus’ view on love. How exactly can we be sure the person we marry will help us grow as a person? What if the person we marry is awful? Does this mean unmarried people are simply not as good? Of course having a marriage with a supportive, loving partner is valuable, but there is no guarantee that every marriage will be this
The debate of same-sex marriage has been going on for years, leading people to question not just gay marriage but marriage itself. Claudia Card and John Finnis are both against same-sex marriage, yet their reasons are vastly different. Card argues that traditional marriage itself is harmful therefore same-sex couples shouldn’t fight for it. Finnis argues that traditional marriage is a valuable institution and allowing same-sex couples to marry would be harmful to society. The two have almost polar opposite ideas on whether traditional marriage is beneficial or not. While I do see some truth in Finnis’ argument, I believe that Card is correct and that traditional marriage is indeed more harmful to society and that …show more content…
Finnis believes that marriage is a “basic human good” and that changing the tradition of marriage would be harmful to society. He claims that marriage does two key things: it makes the husband and wide grow both as individuals and a couple, and it leads to having children in the most positive way. He also believes that the legal part of marriage should be focused on keeping these ideals intact, and he is extremely against premarital sex. Finnis believes that making a powerful commitment of marriage to someone and sticking to it makes people good, and that sticking to a commitment means the results of this goodness are more permanent. He writes “The commitment of marriage has the motivating intelligibilities, the sufficiently attractive and desirable reasons already mentioned: as enabling us two to help each other as friends, lovers, who can hand on our life in the procreation of new persons….” (Page 390) The argument I have against this claim is similar to the argument’s people had against Phaedrus’ view on love. How exactly can we be sure the person we marry will help us grow as a person? What if the person we marry is awful? Does this mean unmarried people are simply not as good? Of course having a marriage with a supportive, loving partner is valuable, but there is no guarantee that every marriage will be this