USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Licensing parents revisited.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
ISSN
0264-3758
Abstract
Although systems for licensing professionals are far from perfect, and their problems and costs should not be ignored, they are justified as a necessary means of protecting innocent people's vital interests. Licensing defends patients from inept doctors, pharmacists, and physical therapists; it protects clients from unqualified lawyers. We should protect people who are highly vulnerable to those who are supposed to serve them, those with whom they have a special relationship. Requiring professionals to be licensed is the most plausible way of doing that. Given the overwhelming support for the licensing of these professionals, I find it odd that so many people categorically reject proposals to license parents. Although the relationship between a parent and her children is different in some respects, it is also relevantly similar to that between a professional and those she serves. To defend these claims, I show how and why the rationale for licensing parents parallels the rational for licensing professionals. I then ask whether such a program could be justifiably implemented. Finally, I describe and reject what I see as the flawed view of the relationship between parents and their children.
Language
en_US
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Recommended Citation
LaFollette, H. (2010). Licensing parents revisited. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 27, 327-343. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5930.2010.00497.x
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Citation only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Journal of Applied Philosophy, 27, 327-343. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5930.2010.00497.x. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.