In order to understand what the family is, it is necessary to study thoroughly all which is related to the human being, its nature and dynamism. Only by truly understanding who the person is, can one finally understand family and therefore society. Due to this, any serious scientific study must have as its starting point basic humanistic sciences.

History

Family institution is closely related to human nature. Historians started speaking about family when coming to terms with the problems of private life, from the fact that matters such as men and women’s rights, parents’ authority over their children, divorce, contraception or abortion had become State affairs.

The renovation of historiography took the filed of scientific interest up to that topic. The study of the family as social institution is somewhat recent in the field of pioneering investigations in social sciences. Science has taken a rather long time in understanding that one cannot study a society if no study of the nature of the cultural accidents which make it up has been made.

Theology

When the reflection about marriage and the family takes place under the scope of theology, one is interest in knowing about the “being” (the truth) and the “having to be” (those behaviors according to that truth) as it has been passed on to us by the Revelation. Due to this, one can say that, as a theological discipline, the aim is to study, from reason enlightened by faith, God’s salvation plan about marriage and the family. Second, –as a consequence–, discover the life style which married people should have in order to adequately respond to God’s project about their life. And third –but not least in importance— help achieve a more thorough study of the nature and characteristics of the interventions of other instances, such as the Church and the State, can and should conduct in regards to marriage and the family.

It is not possible to understand man it he is not seen in relationship to his creator. To study man it is necessary to count with the Revelation, thus since Genesis, we can see how it is highlighted that man has been placed above animals and plants to rule over them, and it is image and resemblance of his Creator.

Philosophy

Philosophy helps us reflect about marriage and the family, the types of realities they are, the entity they have, where they converge. There is an attempt to respond to questions related to the human being, when grouping the different knowledges which aim at establishing, in a rational way, the more general principles which organize and guide knowledge about reality, as well as the sense of human being and acting.

Philosophy is the natural viable method of adequately understanding what human life is, because only in this discipline the agent is entirely committed.

Anthropology

Anthropology studies the highest reality there is: the person as a transcendental being (coexisting, free, cognoscible and loving). Deep matters such as who man is are up to Anthropology to resolve. Anthropology presents itself as the most fundamental pillar which seeks to understand the person who is and the person who will be.

Considering marriage, it is desired to reflect about the necessary anthropological concepts to comprehend the sexual dimension of the human being. The relationship of development of the human being with his/her being as a male or female: the freedom, the commitment, the truth about goodness, the structures of sociability and communication, the sense of human love: the scope of references presented by the inter-relation of these concepts frames espousal character.

Ethics

Ethics refers to man’s actions as guide of his own life. This action of conducting one’s own life might enrich or harm one’s nature. It is necessary to study human conduct and actions to understand the complex relationships which arise in a family.

Any member of a family is given his/her life by his/her parents. This life given in unfinished and it is up to every person to live it through human action. Free action oriented towards specific goals which will make the person grow according to his/her nature. To deny freedom is to deny ethics.

Basis of political and juridical institutions

Any juridical and political and political institution has direct effects on society, the family, and on each individual person. The basis which support these institutions must be always oriented towards the welfare of the human being.

Governments establish their politics which must constitute interventions of their public powers to facilitate people with family responsibilities the best possible conditions to promote their families’ welfare. These politics require a legal frame which will rule the rights and obligations of citizens.

Marriage begins with the conjugal pact, which generates a series of rights and obligations dealt with in part by law. Law is inevitably present at the constitutive moment and at the extinctive moment of juridical-conjugal-family relationships, as well as in changing moments of such juridical relationships. It might be more or less demanding at the time of formulating requisites for any of those moments, but it will most definitely be present.

Human Rights

Section 3º from article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Family is the natural and fundamental element of society and has the right to society and the Government’s protection”. This declaration re-affirms the importance and fundamental role of the family in today’s society.

But Human Rights are inherent to human dignity, and do not depend on a declaration even if it is proclaimed by a big institution. Human dignity comes before positive law and therefore, declarations might be studied in the light of human nature’s own knowledge.