The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children

by Alison Gopnik

Classical philosophical approaches to morality don’t apply very well to parents and children. One important approach is John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism. Utilitarians think that we should make decisions by calculating what will lead to “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Another philosophical theory, Kant’s “deontology,” claims that there are absolute and universal moral principles all of us should follow.