ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a preliminary fashion, one of the deep problems that faces theories that try to grapple with the nature of justice in the family. It discusses some of the general background considerations that are relevant to constructing a more comprehensive account of the nature of parental autonomy. The chapter describes three competing conceptions or models of the appropriate scope of the principle of parental autonomy that have recently been advanced by different theorists. The conceptions include the conservative conception of parental autonomy; the democratic conception of parental autonomy; the liberal conception of parental autonomy. A refined liberal conception does impose constraints on the strategies that parents may legitimately employ to transmit a conception of the good to children. The chapter describes that each conception identifies some important ingredients of a satisfactory account of parental autonomy. It outlines an alternative and more adequate conception of the principle of parental autonomy.
