Matrimonio, filiazione e unioni non coniugali: quale futuro per i rapporti etico-sociali?

The Italian constitution comprehends a section devoted to «social-ethical relationships» with provisions in the first four articles of principles on family and health. This part of the constitution, which is linked to the fundamental article 2, stresses the relational dimension of man and the nexus between fundamental human rights and the principle of solidarity.However, over the last few decades the influence of the libertarian movement, reinforced by globalisation and the new economic relationships, has led to a deconstitutionalizasation and a reshaping of the Italian legal system. This system tends now to be highly influenced by the model of individualistic self-ownership and is consequently severed from its constitutional roots. If the trend continues the concept of marriage will be transformed into a contractual one based only on the right to individual happiness without any space for communal happiness within the family. Moreover, filiation is transforming, particularly thanks to biotechnologies, into a new concept which can no longer be considered as a true relationship with its concomitant set of responsibilities, but rather the consequence of an act of self determination of an adult. The Author underlines some ambiguity revealed in this process, while focusing on the issues regarding cohabitation without marriage, gay marriage and insemination by donors and pre implantation genetic diagnosis.