RE: [split] Ethics - parental responsibility re: children
March 4, 2022 at 9:17 am
(This post was last modified: March 4, 2022 at 9:29 am by The Grand Nudger.)
A person interested in making the world a better place probably isn't the best example of a person allowing suffering to exist - but..hey, end of the day, we can only do so much.
If we fixed all of our human problems there would still be suffering..but suffering, in and of itself, still won't be enough to state confidently that anti natalism is the correct or logical position. I think you're making just as misguided an accusation here as anywhere before. Human beings are well known for their attempts to escape, avoid, and prevent suffering. Clearly, we think it's a big enough problem to do something about it, though a great many of us may find that we aren't in much of a position to do so with respect to some given thing. Here again, not the kind of thing we can be morally responsible for - defanging anti natalism to some extent even as it suggests that they're not completely wrong all the time about every life. I wouldn't personally have a kid in a warzone, for example - but I find it hard to bring down any objective moral condemnation of those who do, and can clearly see the evil in insisting that only those of us who can satisfy a bored misanthrope's objections, as they live in relative peace, have kids.
A good argument for helping your fellow man, to my mind, not for emptying the world of people, the only agents we're aware of that could help those people who truly cannot help themselves.
The trouble, as you might see a pattern by now - is that if we entertain the idea that the world could be improved by the absence of human beings because we are or possess some bad thing x we must also contend with how the world could be made worse by the same. With or without people, there will be suffering on earth. That's non negotiable. A fact of our shared biology. We could say that there'd be less human suffering, at least - but there would also be less (or none) of all of the other things that people are, do, or experience.
If we fixed all of our human problems there would still be suffering..but suffering, in and of itself, still won't be enough to state confidently that anti natalism is the correct or logical position. I think you're making just as misguided an accusation here as anywhere before. Human beings are well known for their attempts to escape, avoid, and prevent suffering. Clearly, we think it's a big enough problem to do something about it, though a great many of us may find that we aren't in much of a position to do so with respect to some given thing. Here again, not the kind of thing we can be morally responsible for - defanging anti natalism to some extent even as it suggests that they're not completely wrong all the time about every life. I wouldn't personally have a kid in a warzone, for example - but I find it hard to bring down any objective moral condemnation of those who do, and can clearly see the evil in insisting that only those of us who can satisfy a bored misanthrope's objections, as they live in relative peace, have kids.
A good argument for helping your fellow man, to my mind, not for emptying the world of people, the only agents we're aware of that could help those people who truly cannot help themselves.
The trouble, as you might see a pattern by now - is that if we entertain the idea that the world could be improved by the absence of human beings because we are or possess some bad thing x we must also contend with how the world could be made worse by the same. With or without people, there will be suffering on earth. That's non negotiable. A fact of our shared biology. We could say that there'd be less human suffering, at least - but there would also be less (or none) of all of the other things that people are, do, or experience.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
