George Lakoff’s Family Moral Models

Strict Father Family Model / Nurturant Parent Family Model
1. Father has primary responsibility for supporting and protecting family.
2. Father has primary authority to set overall family policy.
3. Father teaches children right/wrong by setting strict rules and enforcing via punish-ment and showing love and appreciation when they follow rules; he never coddles
4. Mother has day-to-day responsibility for house, raising kids, upholding father's authority
5. Children must obey and respect parents.
6. They learn self-discipline, self-reliance, respect for authority
7. and grow into self-disciplined (SD), self-reliant (SR) adults able to pursue self-interest
8. World is competitive place, but a self-disciplined, self-reliant person can make it
9. Mature children run their own families and their parents don't interfere.
10. Reward & punishment is a form of love
11. Success is a reward for becoming SD and SR.
12. Competition reveals who is moral (admirable, virtuous) and who is not.
13. People are naturally rank-ordered (men/ women, adults/children, people/animals, etc.) and the Moral Order coincides with the Natural Order.
14. Retributive punishment is chief response to rule breaking.
15. Character develops by adulthood and once formed, does not change.
16. Ideal person is morally strong and avoids self-indulgence.
17. Good persons are "whole," immorality is "corruption."
18. Good persons are "pure," "clean," "healthy."
19. Strict fathers nurture by tough love, protecting family and helping "good people" afflicted by natural disasters
20. Highest priority metaphors are the Strength Group, lowest the Nurturance Group (NG), with Moral Self-Interest in between* / 1. Basic experience is being cared for in a single parent or two-parent household in which both parents share responsibilities.
2. Children learn through attachment to parents (follow model of parents and become attuned to parents' expectations).
3. Protection is a form of caring.
4. Caring requires empathy for others.
5. Children may question and parents should provide explanations, though ultimate decisions rest with parents.
6. Obedience arises from love and respect, not fear of punishment.
7. Goal is for children to become fulfilled, car-ing adults, with a sense of social responsibility, fairness, and empathy for others.
8. Cooperation is stressed over competition.
9. Mastery is developed through nurturance and encouragement.
10. Restitution is favored over retribution when someone acts wrongly.
11. Fairness overrides commitment to a natural moral order (Lakoff 2002, 138).
12. Nurturance involves rights and duties (child has r. to nurturance, parent has d. to provide it, as one may be required to make sacrifices to care for one's children).
13. It's moral (appropriate) to cultivate one's own happiness.
14. Highest priority is Nurturance Group of metaphors, followed by Moral Self-interest, followed by Strength Group.*
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* Nurturance and Strength Groups of Metaphors
Nurturance Group: M. Nurturance, Self-Nurturance, Network, Social Ties, Equality, Inclusion
Strength Group: Moral Strength, Moral Authority, M. Order, M. Boundaries, M. Purity, M. Cleanliness, M. Health, M. Wholeness.
This chart is based on G. Lakoff, Moral Politics and G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh.

J. Garrett, November 29, 2011