Evolution of the Family

The family is not the product of civilization but is civilization’s starting point.

The sexual instinct and the parental instinct are not exclusively human.

These instincts exist equally throughout the animal kingdom.

They contribute to civilization only when they are controlled and disciplined, i.e. when their purely biological functions are transcended by the attainment of a permanent social relationship.

Lewis Morgan elaborated the theory of the gradual evolution of the family from conditions of primitive sexual promiscuity through various forms of group marriage and temporary pairing-up, to the higher forms of patriarchal and monogamous marriage.

This theory was never widely accepted by the scientific community and modern anthropology wholly discredits it and emphasises the universality of marriage in all generations and everywhere.

Whether the social structure was matrilinear or patrilinear, it was the universal rule of every known society that a woman, before she bears a child, must be committed to an individual male partner.

In all human societies moral tradition and law decreed that a group consisting of a mother and her offspring, without a father, was not a sociologically-complete unit.

Marriage is society’s approbation of the biological functions where the instinctive activities of sex and parenthood are socialised and where man is no longer free to follow his own sexual instincts but is forced to conform to an approved social pattern.

Even in the most primitive societies sexual relations were regulated by a complex system of restrictions where any breach was regarded not only as an offense against tribal law but also was regarded as morally sinful - recognised as contrary to the Natural Law which applied always and everywhere since the beginning of the world.

Bear in mind that all primitive cultures involved the widely dispersed descendants of civilised Noah’s sons who, after the linguistic confusion of the Tower of Babel, were forced to separate in language-groups and to go to areas far away from their initial habitats, often to lose the civilising attributes that the original society possessed and so they become variably primitive.

Civilization depends upon a tripod of spiritual, intellectual and technological attributes and the commonest cause of degeneration of a civilization is the loss of the spiritual element with it’s spiritual values, which acts as a glue to hold it together.

Human civilization is not instinctive but instead has to be achieved by struggle involving direction, regulation and control of the natural instincts , appetites, desires and actions and the subordination of these instincts, appetites, desires and actions to the common good.

History has shown us that the civilizations that demanded greater moral effort and stricter social discipline also showed greater cultural achievements and longevity.

For example, in the matrilinear societies and families of ancient times, where the moral discipline demanded less repression of instincts than the patrilinear society, cultural achievement was less impressive and the society was less flexible in adapting to altered circumstances.

The patriarchal society and family required chastity and self-sacrifice on behalf of the wife, obedience and discipline on the part of the children and acceptance of a heavy burden of responsibility by the father who was expected to submit his personal feelings and urges to the interests of the family.

This patriarchal family was a much more efficient unit of cultural life, was not limited to sexual and reproductive functions and became the source of social continuity because of it’s stability and it even acquired a religious character inasmuch as the father, mother and children worked towards society’s common good by working towards their family’s common good in an unselfish manner.

The true patriarchal family did establish the father as the head of the family but under this religious influence also it transformed the position of the woman into a more dignified role as an equal co-partner in the enterprise.

Example of matrilinear societies included those which worshipped the Mother Goddess.

This Goddess worship was barbaric with rites usually marked by sexual excess, cruelty and sometimes human sacrifice.

The Goddess was eventually transformed by patriarchal culture into the more gracious forms of Demeter, Persephone and Aphrodite as well as Athene the giver of good counsel and Artemis the guardian of youth.

The patriarchal culture introduced the concepts of piety, chastity, honor and modesty admired by the Greek and Roman philosophers and present in the other civilizations from Europe to China which were all founded upon the traditions of the patriarchal family.

They had the social strength to prevail over the weaker matrilinear civilizations which preceded them.

The Chinese patriarchal civilization was to last for 2,000 years - it is thought to have originated with Noah of the Biblical flood.

The Greek civilization strayed from the patriarchal path and, like the Roman civilization later, tended to favour the man without a family who could devote all his time and effort to the duties and pleasures of serving the State.

Many of these men satisfied their lusts by licentious living and homosexuality in preference to marriage while others would tend to get married later in life and to have small families.

Other anti-social practices such as infanticide and abortion were common.

In the Roman Empire, because of the falling birth-rate and infanticide - pre- and post-natal - the army and other state positions had to be opened up to foreigners and even slaves.