A set of hypotheticals for all the married folk out there. Each is intended to stand alone. They don’t escalate from one to the next, and I’m not fishing for any particular conclusions here.
- The United States government, at both the state and federal levels, peacefully dissolves into anarchy. The functionaries all read David Friedman, agree with him, and close up shop. Are you still married? Or not?
- Your church, if you have one, decides that your marriage was never valid, owing to a technical error in the ceremony, a mistake no one noticed at the time. Are you still married? Or not?
- Your entire family, on both sides, and any children if you have them, all reach a consensus: You and your wife are all wrong for each other. They’re not going to recognize your marriage, no matter how happy you are, and regardless of how you conduct yourselves. Still married? Or not?
I’m genuinely curious how people will respond. How much of what makes a marriage is individual? And how much of it belongs to the community? How are the communal aspects of marriage allocated among state, church, and family?
I was curious to see where this was going before the technical difficulties ate the post. I happen to have the page with comments cached, so let me know if you’d like me to email it somewhere.
Here were my answers, at any rate:
1. Yes. The law facilitates the social institution, not the other way around.
2. N/A. No plausible worldview supports a view of God that unmakes reality based on “technicalities.”
3. No. Marriage is a social institution. It’s why you have witnesses and ringbearers and an officiant. If it didn’t matter what other people thought and said, no one would bother with ceremonies. Unless other people are around that recognize you as married, there’s no marriage. It’s a bit like paper currency. If all at once we happened to decide it’s worthless, it would be.Report
Aw, man. This thread was awesome, too.Report
For me, marriage is %100 percent personal. The social/legal aspects are something to be gamed.Report
Still married in all three cases.Report