Hubin, Donald C. 2014. Fractured fatherhood: an analytic philosophy perspective on moral and legal paternity. Journal of Family Theory & Review 6:76-90.
Gasking (1960) considers the concept of father as a cluster concept- a fusion of conceptually distinct elements. The world is no longer cooperating, and we are facing more and more situations under which biological fathers do not necessarily are social fathers, for instance. This article aims to review and analyze the cases that the elements of a stereotypical paternity are instantiated in different men, and address some of the legal and philosophical approaches to them. First, the author states that there are three elements in defining fatherhood in Western society- biological elements, social and/or psychological elements and normative elements (paternal rights and/or paternal duties). Then, the author shows that mostly family researchers choose to acknowledge that the fragmentation of fatherhood depends on just one of the elements. However, what is fundamentally at stake is how to assign the responsibilities and duties under the label of “paternal rights and responsibilities”. As a response, some scholars go ahead and accept the fragmentation of the normative element to claim fatherhood. In all, with the advent of reproductive technology and changing social institutions, the author calls the attention of moral philosophers and family researchers on the separability of stereotypical paternity and the protection of the real interests of vulnerable children.
Gasking(1960)认为父亲的概念极为复杂——涉及到很多不同的因素。这个社会变得越来越复杂，我们开始发现生物学意义上的父亲和社会意义上的父亲不再一致。这篇文章回顾和分析了一些具体情况——当传统父职的角色由不同男性扮演，我们应该用怎么样的法律和道德视角去理解这样的社会变化。首先，作者提到在西方社会有三种界定父亲角色的视角——生物学视角、社会和心理学视角以及规范性视角（父职的权利和义务）。在很多情况下，家庭研究者会依赖某一个角度去理解纷繁复杂的父职概念。但是，真正具有挑战性的是我们应该如何界定“父亲的权利和责任。”作为回应，一些研究者开始提出，这些权利和责任也是可以在不同男性之间分配的。比如，在某些情况下，一个孩子既会有亲生爸爸，也会有在日常生活中承担父亲职责的另一位爸爸。总之，作者鼓励道德哲学家和家庭研究者关注到传统父职概念的解体和转变，并且从保护孩子的角度出发去思考问题和解决问题。