Do you have to love your parents?

[Skotadi Phobos]

As the title says, do you have to love you mother and father?

[OldTrees]

No.
More detail: I do not think there is an inherent moral obligation to adopt all of your parent's goals as if they were your own simply because they are the origin of your genetic material and one likely went through pregnancy.

[Xenocidius]

Certainly not. If your parents were drug addicts who beat you half to death when you were a child and left the country, leaving you for dead, before you were found and adopted by foster parents, does it make any sense to love them?

Speaking of foster parents, do they count, or are we talking about biological parents?

[Skotadi Phobos]

Certainly not. If your parents were drug addicts who beat you half to death when you were a child and left the country, leaving you for dead, before you were found and adopted by foster parents, does it make any sense to love them?

Speaking of foster parents, do they count, or are we talking about biological parents?

Any parents.

[furballdn]

No.
More detail: I do not think there is an inherent moral obligation to adopt all of your parent's goals as if they were your own simply because they are the origin of your genetic material and one likely went through pregnancy.

OldTrees answer is the one I most agree with.

[YoungSot]

We are meant to love others (love as in act selflessly towards). That would include our parents, whether they were excellent or terrible ones. However if by love you are referring to an emotional fondness or some sort of blind acceptance of their actions, then no certainly not.

[Annele]

We are meant to love others (love as in act selflessly towards). That would include our parents, whether they were excellent or terrible ones. However if by love you are referring to an emotional fondness or some sort of blind acceptance of their actions, then no certainly not.

Agreed.

I actually got lucky with parents. They won't let me have a boyfriend, but they game me a laptop on which I can play Elements daily, so who needs one?

[furballdn]

We are meant to love others (love as in act selflessly towards). That would include our parents, whether they were excellent or terrible ones. However if by love you are referring to an emotional fondness or some sort of blind acceptance of their actions, then no certainly not.

Agreed.

I actually got lucky with parents. They won't let me have a boyfriend, but they game me a laptop on which I can play Elements daily, so who needs one?

They won't let you get a boyfriend? Oh man, your life must be terrible!

Spoiler for :

Too lazy to make a willy wonka meme

[Naesala]

From dictionary.com, verb (used with object)
15.to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her. No.
16.to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person). I do not believe so, see scenario above
17.to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music. No, see the druggy scenario above.
18.to need or require; benefit greatly from: Plants love sunlight. Perhaps,but so long as someone provides for the child they should be fine, so no.
19.to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover. No.
20.to have sexual intercourse with. Certainly no.

So I would say no, though I agree with YoungSot based on that definition.

[Pineapple]

I believe that asking "Do you have to love your parents?" is the same thing as asking "Do you have to cry when you're sad?"
The is no moral/social/intellectual obligations...You just do. And if you don't; well, whatever.

[Naesala]

I believe that asking "Do you have to love your parents?" is the same thing as asking "Do you have to cry when you're sad?"
The is no moral/social/intellectual obligations...You just do. And if you don't; well, whatever.

I rarely cry when sad.

[OldTrees]

We are meant to love others (love as in act selflessly towards). That would include our parents, whether they were excellent or terrible ones.

1) Differentiate between morally obligatory and morally exemplary.
2) Can selfless acts exist? These are acts that the moral agent does while not wanting to do that action. Wanting to do what is right is a selfish cause for apparently selfless acts. If selfless acts cannot exist then it cannot be obligatory to preform them.