ABSTRACT
Most people accept the claim that adult children have special obligations to their parents. Accounts of such obligations are either deflationary or non-deflationary: either the obligations are grounded on (i) some feature essential to the parent–child relationship that is not present in any other type of relationship, or on (ii) a feature of the parent–child relationship that may be present in other types of relationships and need not present in all parent–child relationships. The three most plausible accounts of filial duties – the gratitude account, the friendship account, and the special goods account – are all deflationary accounts. Applying these theories to the example of a father–daughter relationship in the film Music Box illustrates how the particularities of any particular parent–child relationship will determine whether, and to what extent, filial duties are present. It also reveals how complex the moral situation can be when filial duties conflict with more general moral duties.
