Generally speaking, people are often very bad at imagining the concrete harrowing details of such situations, and they can get hit much harder than they would think when pondering such possibilities in the abstract.
Fair enough. I can’t credibly predict what my emotions would be if I were cuckolded, but I still have an opinion on which emotions I would personally endorse.
the law ultimately has to support one position or the other
Someone does have to pay for the child’s upbringing. What the State should do is settle on a consistent policy that doesn’t harm too many people and which doesn’t encourage undesirable behavior. Those are the only important criteria.
Fair enough. I can’t credibly predict what my emotions would be if I were cuckolded, but I still have an opinion on which emotions I would personally endorse.
Well, I can consider adultery to generally be morally wrong, and still desire that the law be indifferent to adultery. And I can consider it to be morally wrong to teach your children creationism, and still desire that the law permit it (for the time being). Just because I think a man should not betray the children he taught to call him “father” doesn’t necessarily mean I think the State should make him pay for their upbringing.
Someone does have to pay for the child’s upbringing. What the State should do is settle on a consistent policy that doesn’t harm too many people and which doesn’t encourage undesirable behavior. Those are the only important criteria.
Well, infanticide is also technically an option, if no one wants to raise the kid.