title: Caring for parents: a consequentialist approach.
abstract: In this paper, I explain the demands of filial obligations from act and rule consequentialism. More specifically, I defend a rule-consequentialist explanation of filial obligations, and identify a few factors in relation to the determination of filial demands; they include the costs of internalization of filial obligations, and the proportions of the young and the old generations in a population pyramid. I believe that in a society with an aging population, we may accept a strong view of filial obligation. Towards the end of the paper, I explain that rule-consequentialism is compatible with certain special views of filial obligations, such as the gratitude theory and the special goods theory; these theories represent ways in which adult children and their parents may obtain special goods from engaging in the relationship.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. sinwailam@gmail.com.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sin
mesh_terms: D032721:Adult Children; D017028:Caregivers / Q000941:ethics*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D028663:Ethical Theory; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Consequentialism; Demandingness; Filial obligation; Long-term caregiving; Population; Special goods theory