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‘Duped Fathers’, ‘Cuckoo Children’, and the Problem of Basing Fatherhood on Biology: A Philosophical Analysis

Cutas, Daniela LU and Smajdor, Anna (2020) p.171-182
Abstract
Who is a child’s father? Is it the man who raised her, or the one whose genes she carries—or both? WIn this chapter, we look at the view that men who have raised children they falsely believed to be ‘their own’ have been victims of a form of fraud or are ‘false fathers’. We consider the question of who has been harmed in such cases, and in what the harm consists. We use conceptual analysis, a philosophical method of investigating the use of a concept and the logical implications of its various interpretations. We devise and discuss a number of possible scenarios in which a couple (arguably) become the parents of a child. We use these scenarios to illustrate the tenuousness of the claim that we can simply rely on biology to clarify... (More)
Who is a child’s father? Is it the man who raised her, or the one whose genes she carries—or both? WIn this chapter, we look at the view that men who have raised children they falsely believed to be ‘their own’ have been victims of a form of fraud or are ‘false fathers’. We consider the question of who has been harmed in such cases, and in what the harm consists. We use conceptual analysis, a philosophical method of investigating the use of a concept and the logical implications of its various interpretations. We devise and discuss a number of possible scenarios in which a couple (arguably) become the parents of a child. We use these scenarios to illustrate the tenuousness of the claim that we can simply rely on biology to clarify parent-child relationships. We also discuss some of the underpinnings and implications of the language in which the debate on ‘paternity fraud’ has been framed: ‘duped’ or ‘false’ fathers and ‘cuckoo children’. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
'false fathers', 'cuckoo children', fatherhood
host publication
Assistierte Reproduktion mit Hilfe Dritter : Medizin - Ethik - Psychologie - Recht - Medizin - Ethik - Psychologie - Recht
editor
Beier, Katharina ; Brügge, Claudia ; Thorn, Petra and Wiesemann, Claudia
pages
171 - 182
publisher
Springer
ISBN
978-3-662-60298-0
978-3-662-60297-3
DOI
10.1007/978-3-662-60298-0_11
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
851e11c9-694d-45c4-a729-e9c0292475d7
date added to LUP
2020-12-08 08:32:42
date last changed
2020-12-09 15:51:40
@inbook{851e11c9-694d-45c4-a729-e9c0292475d7,
  abstract     = {{Who is a child’s father? Is it the man who raised her, or the one whose genes she carries—or both? WIn this chapter, we look at the view that men who have raised children they falsely believed to be ‘their own’ have been victims of a form of fraud or are ‘false fathers’. We consider the question of who has been harmed in such cases, and in what the harm consists. We use conceptual analysis, a philosophical method of investigating the use of a concept and the logical implications of its various interpretations. We devise and discuss a number of possible scenarios in which a couple (arguably) become the parents of a child. We use these scenarios to illustrate the tenuousness of the claim that we can simply rely on biology to clarify parent-child relationships. We also discuss some of the underpinnings and implications of the language in which the debate on ‘paternity fraud’ has been framed: ‘duped’ or ‘false’ fathers and ‘cuckoo children’.}},
  author       = {{Cutas, Daniela and Smajdor, Anna}},
  booktitle    = {{Assistierte Reproduktion mit Hilfe Dritter : Medizin - Ethik - Psychologie - Recht}},
  editor       = {{Beier, Katharina and Brügge, Claudia and Thorn, Petra and Wiesemann, Claudia}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-662-60298-0}},
  keywords     = {{'false fathers'; 'cuckoo children'; fatherhood}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{171--182}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  title        = {{‘Duped Fathers’, ‘Cuckoo Children’, and the Problem of Basing Fatherhood on Biology: A Philosophical Analysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60298-0_11}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-662-60298-0_11}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}