The Consent Problem in Procreation
Is it ethically defensible to bring a person into existence without their consent? This essay examines the consent problem as a central challenge to the ethics of procreation.
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Is it ethically defensible to bring a person into existence without their consent? This essay examines the consent problem as a central challenge to the ethics of procreation.
David Benatar posits that coming into existence is always a net harm due to a crucial asymmetry between pain and pleasure, a claim with deep ethical implications.
Emil Cioran's aphorisms offer a literary and deeply personal form of antinatalist witness, arguing that existence itself is the primary harm.
Pronatalism is not a natural or default human stance but a deeply embedded ideology. This essay unpacks the cultural, religious, and economic machinery that drives the unexamined imperative to procreate.
This essay explores the strongest counterarguments to antinatalism, from Pollyannaism to appeals to future good, and argues for their ultimate insufficiency.
Rising rates of mental illness are not mere chemical imbalances, but a rational response to the alienation inherent in the modern condition.
Does the existence of suffering challenge theological justifications for human creation? This essay explores the collision of procreative ethics and divine benevolence.
To be born is to be brought into existence without consent. This essay examines whether this fundamental imposition can be ethically justified.
David Benatar's asymmetry argument posits that coming into existence is always a harm. This essay explores the argument's logic, historical context, and philosophical implications.
Pronatalism is not a natural impulse but a constructed ideology. This essay unpacks the cultural, religious, and economic machinery that coerces procreation.