I'm curious on what you think of Antinatalism. I feel people's interest in this topic has grown in recent years, especially from the show True Detective. In our secular culture without a God or anything to base our morality, people are starting to consider the idea that if suffering is bad, then why create something that will suffer at all?
I've read your posts on the NY Times where you talked about Professor Benatar's book Better To Have Never Been, and you gave a charitable reading on it, saying that the view isn't crazy despite what most people might think at first. But you ultimately disagreed with him saying that while you don't think that there's anything morally wrong with a non-sentient universe, you still feel that most people enjoy their lives enough to justify procreation. I agree with you to an extent, but one of the Antinatalist's attack is that it's coercing people into suffering without their consent. There may be an identity issue in there (how can something which doesn't exist be coerced?), but something also sounds right about it. No one asked to be born. In this respect, is it immoral to procreate because we're forcing people to live without their consent?
Ihr_Todeswunsch16 karma
Thanks for doing this Professor Singer.
I'm curious on what you think of Antinatalism. I feel people's interest in this topic has grown in recent years, especially from the show True Detective. In our secular culture without a God or anything to base our morality, people are starting to consider the idea that if suffering is bad, then why create something that will suffer at all?
I've read your posts on the NY Times where you talked about Professor Benatar's book Better To Have Never Been, and you gave a charitable reading on it, saying that the view isn't crazy despite what most people might think at first. But you ultimately disagreed with him saying that while you don't think that there's anything morally wrong with a non-sentient universe, you still feel that most people enjoy their lives enough to justify procreation. I agree with you to an extent, but one of the Antinatalist's attack is that it's coercing people into suffering without their consent. There may be an identity issue in there (how can something which doesn't exist be coerced?), but something also sounds right about it. No one asked to be born. In this respect, is it immoral to procreate because we're forcing people to live without their consent?
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