It's clear that your understanding of philosophy and such is a lot more sophisticated that mine. What I'm trying to get at, in a somewhat hamfisted way, is that I think of the family as something so valuable that while individuals are individuals, their lives should more or less dedicated to propagating it unless their families are REALLY toxic. For me, I want kids really badly but even if I didn't I would still do it just out of a sense of duty to my parents who I know really want grandchildren. I do think we as individuals have some obligation to our families, honor thy mother and father and all that. When I think about the money I have and the money I expect to earn in the future, a lot of what I'm thinking about is future generations
I don't object as long as the individual chooses to express this sense of duty. And while I personally agree with your sentiments toward the family construct, for me, it does not supersede individualism. To be fair, nothing really does.
We might have a disagreement here. They should have a legal right to do so because otherwise the government is dictating how people spend their money which is obviously a terrible idea. But I would consider an heir who inherits tons of money from past generations and squanders it to be doing something immoral, especially if their own children are struggling. They have a kind of fiduciary responsibility as a steward of assets...I guess this issue is why most serious wealth is held in trustsOn the other hand I do think it's wrong when greedy heirs act entitled to their parents or their grandparents money. So morality is probably a lot more conditional than the framework I laid out in my OP
Personally, I mostly agree with you. I do think that it would be to one's benefit to act as steward of one's family wealth until such a time when said wealth could be transferred to one's children. But when morality is mentioned, accountability comes to mind. If that were the case, would the children bear the capacity to sue or seek damages from the squandering steward? I think a family would do well to help recipients of inheritance to understand the value in adding to and protecting wealth, but at the end of the day the abusus and usus fructus of that wealth is still subject to recipient's decisions.