Adultery Essay

When two people walk down the aisle and make a promise to love one another “till death do us part,” they are proclaiming that for the rest of their lives they will only love their spouse and never wander from their loved one. If they stray from their loved one; having sexual intercourse with someone other than their spouse. They are committing adultery. Adulterous behavior can be seen to fall with the domain of morality.

For men and women there are many reasons they have committed or are committing adultery. For the most part many who have affairs have a good sex life but come from marriages with little or no intimacy. When a spouses needs are not met many marriages tend to become more susceptible to an extramarital affair. Often the failure of men and women to meet each others needs is due to the lack of understanding rather than a selfish unwillingness to be considerate.

Philosopher Richard A. Wasserstrom notes in this article that shared arguments judging adulterous behavior state that adultery is immoral because it involves breaking a promise to one’s spouse, and because it entails using other people as a means to an end. According to the deontic view, deceiving, breaking promises, and using others as means to ends are just wrong in their own right, regardless of any additional consequence. The adulterous spouse uses two people as means to end; one is the spouse that is cheated upon, and the other is the sexual partner in the affair. Both are treated as sources of solidity or pleasure and not as ends in their own right, as adultery essentially places the needs of oneself above the right of others to be self-determined.

According to the utilitarian view, adultery is wrong because dishonesty and promise-keeping result in di...

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...alent to lying.

A final reason given for thinking that adultery is immoral is that it weakens the institutions of marriage and family. Given that these institutions are good for society, engaging in activities that undermine them is morally suspect.

Much of the above is legitimately obvious. But such thoughts may go by the wayside when people are encountered with the choice of being unfaithful to their spouse. There will be times when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of your spouse, and for the relationship itself. However, when we put the interests of our spouse and the well-being of the marriage relationship above our own pursuit of happiness, we experience a deeper and more lasting form of happiness. This is the form of happiness that comes from having good character, and a continuing a love relationship with the person we've vowed to be faithful to.