Except we don’t actually believe that most babies have to be supported by their parents in perpetuity… at some point, we consider that the parents have discharged their responsibility and if the no-longer-baby is still incapable of arranging to be fed regularly, it becomes someone else’s problem. (Perhaps its own, perhaps a welfare system of some sort, etc.) Failing to continue to support my 30-year-old son isn’t necessarily seen as a moral failing.
(nods) Hence “most”/”necessarily.” Though I’ll admit, my moral intuitions in those cases are muddled… I’m really not sure what I want to say about them.
Perhaps the computer will eventually become mature enough to support verself, at which point it has no more claim on your resources. Otherwise, ve’s a disabled child and the ethics of that situation applies.
I consider this scenario analogous to one in which somebody steals your computer and also leaves a baby in a basket on your doormat.
Except we don’t actually believe that most babies have to be supported by their parents in perpetuity… at some point, we consider that the parents have discharged their responsibility and if the no-longer-baby is still incapable of arranging to be fed regularly, it becomes someone else’s problem. (Perhaps its own, perhaps a welfare system of some sort, etc.) Failing to continue to support my 30-year-old son isn’t necessarily seen as a moral failing.
Barring disability.
(nods) Hence “most”/”necessarily.” Though I’ll admit, my moral intuitions in those cases are muddled… I’m really not sure what I want to say about them.
Perhaps the computer will eventually become mature enough to support verself, at which point it has no more claim on your resources. Otherwise, ve’s a disabled child and the ethics of that situation applies.