Title: Marriage and Domestic Partnership (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Headings: Marriage and Domestic Partnership
Marriage and Domestic Partnership
1. Defining Marriage
2. Understanding Marriage: Historical Orientation
3. Marriage and Morals
3.1 Contractual Views
3.2 Institutional Views
3.2.1 New Natural Law: Marriage as Procreative Union
3.2.2 Marriage as Protecting Love
4. The Politics of Marriage
4.1 Marriage and Legal Contract
4.2 The Rationale of Marriage Law
4.3 Same-Sex Marriage
4.4 Arguments for Marriage Reform
5. Marriage and Oppression
5.1 Feminist Approaches
5.2 The Queer Critique
Bibliography
Contemporary Works
Historical Works
Academic Tools
Other Internet Resources
Acknowledgments

Content: Defining marriage must depend on, rather than precede, ethical and political inquiry. 2. Understanding Marriage: Historical Orientation
Setting the agenda for contemporary debate, ancient and medieval philosophers raised recurring themes in the philosophy of marriage: the relation between marriage and the state, the role of sex and procreation in marriage, and the gendered nature of spousal roles. Their works reflect evolving, and overlapping, ideas of marriage as an economic or procreative unit, a religious sacrament, a contractual association, and a relationship of mutual support. In his depiction of the ideal state, Plato (427–347 BCE) described a form of marriage contrasting greatly with actual marriage practices of his time. He argued that, just as male and female watchdogs perform the same duties, men and women should work together, and, among Guardians, ‘wives and children [should be held] in common’ ( The Republic, ca. 375–370 BCE, 423e–424a). To orchestrate eugenic breeding, temporary marriages would be made at festivals, where matches, apparently chosen by lot, would be secretly arranged by the Rulers.