"The Road from T to We": Family Law in theCommunitarian State

Whichever way we choose to define a "family," our definition will distinguish between insiders and outsiders, between those who belong and those who do not belong, between an inner circle of mutual commitment and support and an outer circle of indifference, between "public" and "private" realms. How else than with terms of exclusivity could we do justice to the fact that "family members," whoever they may be, play a unique and vital role in our lives that is not shared by others? Yet, people have tried to find alternative vocabularies. Fearful of the isolation and self-absorption that comes with privacy, critics have questioned the validity of our dichotomized approach and have instead searched for a family law that would transcend the cursed public/private distinction, make peace between our public and private selves, end the hostilities between our egotism and our altruism, and allow both to lie down together like the lamb and the lion.