A Proposed New Concept of Marriage
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In recent decades many new formats for marriage have been tried and suggested. In America the 1960's and 1970's brought many social and cultural changes in terms of the women's movement and shifting sex roles which resulted in questioning of old values in the areas of relationship and marriage. Some of these changes were a dramatic departure from the conservatism of post war 1950's, during which the re-establishment of the nuclear family became paramount in importance. But what has been accomplished by this seemingly disruptive, destructive reexamination of family values and traditional marriage? It is the purpose of this paper to thoughtfully propose a theoretical approach to marriage which will incorporate the best of the old and the new--a practical and reasonable synthesis of traditional values and the values of several modern thinkers. During past generations, people did not live as long, and it was reasonable for people to expect that one selection of mate would last a lifetime, not so long if the lifetime was only 40 or 50 years. However, in present times, as people can expect to live into their late 70's, 80's, or even 90's, it is not so logical to think that one can at age 18 or 19 predict what type of partner will be interesting and satisfying 60 or 70 years later. Adults as a matter of course expect to change jobs and careers a few times during a lifetime, and different marriages and relationships can be viewed in this same w
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e free to do so, but a different type of marriage and divorce structure should be available to them, so long as no children are involved. This type of "practice" marriage can be brief or as long as the couples prefer. It should be easy to enter into and easy to exit, without complicated legal and financial hassles.
The next level of marriage, the type sanctioned by the state and the church should be more stringent in its requirements, more difficult to enter into, but easier to exit than is possible with present law. It does no one any good, even children, to live within a home fraught with conflict and unhappiness, and couples should be free to end marriage at any time they deem it necessary to do so.
It is doubtful that very many people are able to commit to more than one person at a time, at least in a full marriage sense, so it seems preferable to assume that persons should marry only two at a time, at least in the American society at the present time. Kierkegaard expresses thoughtful comments in his work "Aesthetic Validity of Marriage" in which he says that "candor, open-heartedness, revelation, understanding" (Kierkegaard, p. 118) constitute the principle of marriage. This type of devotion to another requires focus,
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Notre Dame's, Richard Wasserstrom, John Bradshaw, Concept Marriage, Validity Marriage, Margaret Mead, Either/Or Volume, Wasserstrom Richard, Soven Aesthetic, Burtchaell James, sexual fidelity, committed marriage, wasserstrom 1975, aesthetic validity marriage, validity marriage, persons desire, burtchaell 1977, aesthetic validity, rearing children, marriage type, people expect,
Approximate Word count = 1616
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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