Date of Award
8-2021
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Christie Hartley
Second Advisor
Dan Weiskopf
Abstract
Elizabeth Brake presents a plausible contradiction: Promise breaking is regarded as impermissible, and marital promises are regarded as legitimate promises, however, we take divorce, which is a breaking of a marital promise, as generally permissible. Brake’s response to the inconsistency of these beliefs is to assert that we misunderstand marital promises altogether. She argues that marital vows misfire (that is they do not come to enforce promissory obligation) because they attempt to make promises about what one cannot control, one’s emotions—namely love. My project will be in response to this view. First, I contend that Brake is wrong to think that marriage vows are illegitimate promises and second, I offer what I take to be a stronger resolution to the divorce inconsistency posed by Brake.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/23144419
Recommended Citation
Landers, Katherine, "Til Death (or Divorce) Do Us Part: A Defense of Divorce as a Morally Permissible Instance of Promise-Breaking." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2021.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/23144419
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