"Give Your Father And Mother No Other Cause For Anxiety Than Illness"
   | The Moral Duty of An Adult ChildThe expectations of an adult child are very different in Eastern and
Western cultures. Within the United States, we
do encounter extreme filial piety, most often in communities of immigrants and descendants of recent immigrants from eastern countries. We also encounter extreme disregard for elders, most prevalently in American non-immigrants. This leads me to the question:Is it the adult child's moral duty to care for
elderly parents? I have concluded that it is the moral duty of adult children to care for their parents. Below is an overview of the two sides of the issue. There are also two videos on the video page, each representing one of the following viewpoints. I believe the virtuous choice is the duty of filial piety. Therefore, the Xiao page attempts to describe it in detail, using the words of Confucius himself. Eastern TraditionWestern TraditionAccording to Western tradition, the elderly are a burden. The importance of the individual adult child supersedes the importance of caring for elders because Western tradition celebrates individual success and individual gains above family. |
