Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics, professor of philosophy, at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA.

• ContentsAcknowledgments1 Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars: An Introduction1.1 Sex and the Family1.2 Traditional versus Post-traditional Family Life: Contested Grounds in the Culture Wars1.3 The Family and Its Role in Human Flourishing1.4 Shifting Sexual Mores and Uncomfortable Social Consequences1.5 A God's Eye Perspective on the Family1.6 Four Heuristic Accounts of the Family1.7 A Final Warning2 The Family as a Sociobiological Reality2.1 Socio-biology and the Human Family2.2 Altruism, Kinship, and the Family: The Importance of Inclusive Fitness2.3 Sexual Divergence—Human Reproductive Strategies and Sex Differences2.4 Conclusion: Heterosexual Normativity, Patriarchal Families, Paternalism, and Other Political Controversies3 The Family as a De Facto Category of Social Reality3.1 The Family as a Central Category of Experience, Being, and Knowledge3.2 The Family as a Sui Generis Category of Social Reality: The Being of the Family for Thought and Thought's Apprehension of the Family's Being3.3 Individual Interactions that Become Familial Interactions3.4 Conceptualizing the Social Implications of the Sociobiological Data3.5 Conclusion: The Rejection of a Nominalist Account of the Family4 God and the Philosopher; Or Why a God's Eye Perspective Is Necessary to Secure a Particular Account of the Family4.1 The Necessity of a God's Eye Perspective4.2 God's Perspective on Reality as a Regulative Ideal4.3 The Atheistic Methodological Postulate versus the Theistic Methodological Postulate: Competing Views of the Reality of the Family4.4 Conclusion: Without God Moral Pluralism Cannot Be Resolved5 The Family as a Liberal Social-Constructivist Social Entity5.1 A Moral and Political Ideological Agenda5.2 Idealized Liberty and Equality5.3 Homosexual Marriage and Other Non-traditional Families5.4 The Liberation of Children5.5 The "Mature Minor": Conceptual Puzzles5.6 Conclusion: A Destructive Ethos6 Deregulating Family Life: The Family as a Libertarian Constructivist Social Entity6.1 Experiments in Living6.2 Liberty as a Side Constraint—The Family as a Face-to-Face Voluntary Association6.3 Families May Have Unequal Power Relationships, Embody Nonliberal Accounts of the Good, Discriminate, and Violate Redistributive Justice6.4 Conclusion: The Limits of Legitimate Governmental Authority7 The Family and the Fundamentalist Secular State: The Establishment at Law of a Fully Secular Ideology7.1 Return to the Culture Wars7.2 Faith in God versus Faith in Reason— The Creation of Secularism7.3 The Attempt to Construct an International Secular Morality: The "Human Rights" Agenda7.4 Deep Moral and Epistemological Ambiguity: Human Rights as a Modus Vivendi7.5 Conclusion: A Secular World in Crisis8 Sex, Abortion, and Ideological Entrenchment: At the Brink of Nihilism8.1 Devout Secularism8.2 Shifts in Taken-for-Granted Sexual Mores8.3 Why Abortion Is Central8.4 Living Honestly with Significant Moral Pluralism8.5 At the Brink of Nihilism: Recapturing the FamilyReferencesIndex

Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics, professor of philosophy, at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA.

• ContentsAcknowledgments1 Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars: An Introduction1.1 Sex and the Family1.2 Traditional versus Post-traditional Family Life: Contested Grounds in the Culture Wars1.3 The Family and Its Role in Human Flourishing1.4 Shifting Sexual Mores and Uncomfortable Social Consequences1.5 A God's Eye Perspective on the Family1.6 Four Heuristic Accounts of the Family1.7 A Final Warning2 The Family as a Sociobiological Reality2.1 Socio-biology and the Human Family2.2 Altruism, Kinship, and the Family: The Importance of Inclusive Fitness2.3 Sexual Divergence—Human Reproductive Strategies and Sex Differences2.4 Conclusion: Heterosexual Normativity, Patriarchal Families, Paternalism, and Other Political Controversies3 The Family as a De Facto Category of Social Reality3.1 The Family as a Central Category of Experience, Being, and Knowledge3.2 The Family as a Sui Generis Category of Social Reality: The Being of the Family for Thought and Thought's Apprehension of the Family's Being3.3 Individual Interactions that Become Familial Interactions3.4 Conceptualizing the Social Implications of the Sociobiological Data3.5 Conclusion: The Rejection of a Nominalist Account of the Family4 God and the Philosopher; Or Why a God's Eye Perspective Is Necessary to Secure a Particular Account of the Family4.1 The Necessity of a God's Eye Perspective4.2 God's Perspective on Reality as a Regulative Ideal4.3 The Atheistic Methodological Postulate versus the Theistic Methodological Postulate: Competing Views of the Reality of the Family4.4 Conclusion: Without God Moral Pluralism Cannot Be Resolved5 The Family as a Liberal Social-Constructivist Social Entity5.1 A Moral and Political Ideological Agenda5.2 Idealized Liberty and Equality5.3 Homosexual Marriage and Other Non-traditional Families5.4 The Liberation of Children5.5 The "Mature Minor": Conceptual Puzzles5.6 Conclusion: A Destructive Ethos6 Deregulating Family Life: The Family as a Libertarian Constructivist Social Entity6.1 Experiments in Living6.2 Liberty as a Side Constraint—The Family as a Face-to-Face Voluntary Association6.3 Families May Have Unequal Power Relationships, Embody Nonliberal Accounts of the Good, Discriminate, and Violate Redistributive Justice6.4 Conclusion: The Limits of Legitimate Governmental Authority7 The Family and the Fundamentalist Secular State: The Establishment at Law of a Fully Secular Ideology7.1 Return to the Culture Wars7.2 Faith in God versus Faith in Reason— The Creation of Secularism7.3 The Attempt to Construct an International Secular Morality: The "Human Rights" Agenda7.4 Deep Moral and Epistemological Ambiguity: Human Rights as a Modus Vivendi7.5 Conclusion: A Secular World in Crisis8 Sex, Abortion, and Ideological Entrenchment: At the Brink of Nihilism8.1 Devout Secularism8.2 Shifts in Taken-for-Granted Sexual Mores8.3 Why Abortion Is Central8.4 Living Honestly with Significant Moral Pluralism8.5 At the Brink of Nihilism: Recapturing the FamilyReferencesIndex

Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics, professor of philosophy, at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA.

• ContentsAcknowledgments1 Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars: An Introduction1.1 Sex and the Family1.2 Traditional versus Post-traditional Family Life: Contested Grounds in the Culture Wars1.3 The Family and Its Role in Human Flourishing1.4 Shifting Sexual Mores and Uncomfortable Social Consequences1.5 A God's Eye Perspective on the Family1.6 Four Heuristic Accounts of the Family1.7 A Final Warning2 The Family as a Sociobiological Reality2.1 Socio-biology and the Human Family2.2 Altruism, Kinship, and the Family: The Importance of Inclusive Fitness2.3 Sexual Divergence—Human Reproductive Strategies and Sex Differences2.4 Conclusion: Heterosexual Normativity, Patriarchal Families, Paternalism, and Other Political Controversies3 The Family as a De Facto Category of Social Reality3.1 The Family as a Central Category of Experience, Being, and Knowledge3.2 The Family as a Sui Generis Category of Social Reality: The Being of the Family for Thought and Thought's Apprehension of the Family's Being3.3 Individual Interactions that Become Familial Interactions3.4 Conceptualizing the Social Implications of the Sociobiological Data3.5 Conclusion: The Rejection of a Nominalist Account of the Family4 God and the Philosopher; Or Why a God's Eye Perspective Is Necessary to Secure a Particular Account of the Family4.1 The Necessity of a God's Eye Perspective4.2 God's Perspective on Reality as a Regulative Ideal4.3 The Atheistic Methodological Postulate versus the Theistic Methodological Postulate: Competing Views of the Reality of the Family4.4 Conclusion: Without God Moral Pluralism Cannot Be Resolved5 The Family as a Liberal Social-Constructivist Social Entity5.1 A Moral and Political Ideological Agenda5.2 Idealized Liberty and Equality5.3 Homosexual Marriage and Other Non-traditional Families5.4 The Liberation of Children5.5 The "Mature Minor": Conceptual Puzzles5.6 Conclusion: A Destructive Ethos6 Deregulating Family Life: The Family as a Libertarian Constructivist Social Entity6.1 Experiments in Living6.2 Liberty as a Side Constraint—The Family as a Face-to-Face Voluntary Association6.3 Families May Have Unequal Power Relationships, Embody Nonliberal Accounts of the Good, Discriminate, and Violate Redistributive Justice6.4 Conclusion: The Limits of Legitimate Governmental Authority7 The Family and the Fundamentalist Secular State: The Establishment at Law of a Fully Secular Ideology7.1 Return to the Culture Wars7.2 Faith in God versus Faith in Reason— The Creation of Secularism7.3 The Attempt to Construct an International Secular Morality: The "Human Rights" Agenda7.4 Deep Moral and Epistemological Ambiguity: Human Rights as a Modus Vivendi7.5 Conclusion: A Secular World in Crisis8 Sex, Abortion, and Ideological Entrenchment: At the Brink of Nihilism8.1 Devout Secularism8.2 Shifts in Taken-for-Granted Sexual Mores8.3 Why Abortion Is Central8.4 Living Honestly with Significant Moral Pluralism8.5 At the Brink of Nihilism: Recapturing the FamilyReferencesIndex