WB Unplugged
"Even if gay marriage is legalized... Do you believe in the institution of marriage? What about people who marry again and again? Do you think taking a vow of eternal love and/or fidelity still holds the same meaning? Should it?"
To me, continual divorce and remarriage suggests a certain lack of judgment; it means that you don't know yourself, you don't judge others well, you ignore your judgments in favor of romanticism, or all of the above. Me, I'm fine with marriage existing as an institution; it may lack any particular philosophical justification, but our society has developed with it, along with many other things. To me, marriage represents an acknowledgment that a certain person is so valuable to you that you are willing to intertwine your life with theirs, and more practically, you're willing to put forth the effort of keeping your relationship with them alive and healthy through all the growing and changing that you'll both do in your lifetime.
I think marriage vows have grown to be less constricting over time in that divorce used to be much less societally acceptable, but that doesn't mean the old way was better; it means that it was much more difficult to get out of an unhappy marriage. The whole system used to be much more patriarchal, too--female virginity was a must where male virginity was definitely not, women were expected to defer to their husbands, women were ubiquitously economic dependents, et cetera. So no, I would not advocate a regression. I think that some people should probably exercise better judgment about whose spouse they agree to become, but there will always be people who lack judgment. Regressing wouldn't change that.
To me, continual divorce and remarriage suggests a certain lack of judgment; it means that you don't know yourself, you don't judge others well, you ignore your judgments in favor of romanticism, or all of the above. Me, I'm fine with marriage existing as an institution; it may lack any particular philosophical justification, but our society has developed with it, along with many other things. To me, marriage represents an acknowledgment that a certain person is so valuable to you that you are willing to intertwine your life with theirs, and more practically, you're willing to put forth the effort of keeping your relationship with them alive and healthy through all the growing and changing that you'll both do in your lifetime.
I think marriage vows have grown to be less constricting over time in that divorce used to be much less societally acceptable, but that doesn't mean the old way was better; it means that it was much more difficult to get out of an unhappy marriage. The whole system used to be much more patriarchal, too--female virginity was a must where male virginity was definitely not, women were expected to defer to their husbands, women were ubiquitously economic dependents, et cetera. So no, I would not advocate a regression. I think that some people should probably exercise better judgment about whose spouse they agree to become, but there will always be people who lack judgment. Regressing wouldn't change that.