Thomas: Chapter 3

In this next chapter Thomas builds off what he established in the previous one. Though it has been argued that biology provides us with the capacity for morality/altruism it does not guarantee it. Like other abilities it needs to be developed from a young age in order to produce a person with a good moral character. Thomas believes that in order to account for this fact one must again look at parental love and see how it can affect the child.

The essence of his argument is that parental love is a clear instance of altruism. Parents sacrifice many opportunities for personal benefit in favor of benefiting their children. This is especially important for a child as it is, in its early stages, completely vulnerable and unable to take care of itself. Moreover, realizing these facts causes the child to reciprocate the love of its parents. It is from this that from an early age children learn what it is to act altruistically towards another person which in turn helps to develop their altruistic capacity. (Of course, not all parents treat their children well and thus this explanation leaves out those children whose parents were not so good. However, Thomas's point requires only that this sort of parental love and reciprocation does happen some times.)

Moreover, children have a great tendency to emulate their parents. This is important because upon realizing the connection between their parents's love for them and their altruistic acts the child tends to act in kind. And this is true as, even though children can obviously not match their parents in terms of benefiting each other, children often do (or try to do at least) nice things for their parents. The point here is that at an early age children (can) learn what it is like to be loved and have other people act altruistically towards them. Furthermore, this serves as the basis of the child's reciprocation and thus their motivation to act for the well-being of another.

Another important point about parental love that Thomas mentions is its importance in a child's development of moral autonomy self-esteem. Parents, through their unconditional love, show their children that they are valued not for anything they do but just for who they are. A parent may approve or disapprove of a child's aciton and thereby teach the child what is appropriate and what is not, but despite this does not accompany disapproval with rejection. The child is always accepted and loved. This is very important for the psychological security of the child as it knows that whatever it does it will still be valued and cared for. Also, this helps the child build up a conception of its self worth and is thus less affected by attacks on that worth by others. Through their love and support, Thomas argues that parents bolster their children's self-esteem/sense of self worth against failures and the criticisms of others. Moral autonomy is also in part developed here as the child is not required to adhere unquestioningly to some authority in order to gain acceptance.