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Summary

Causing a person to exist with a life barely worth living may be wrong, according to the nonidentity problem. This philosophical analysis suggests that if such lives are inevitable, having children could be considered morally wrong, impacting reproduction ethics.

Keywords:

Derek Parfit antinatalism human extinction nonidentity problem population ethics

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Area of Science:

Philosophy of Ethics
Population Ethics
Reproductive Ethics

Background:

Derek Parfit's nonidentity problem posits that actions affecting future persons may not be wrong for those persons, even if their existence results in a life barely worth living.
Parfit also argued that agents can be necessary conditions for the existence of future persons.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the implications of combining Parfit's views on the nonidentity problem with the concept of bringing individuals into existence with lives not worth living.
To analyze whether Parfit's own framework could lead to an antinatalist conclusion regarding procreation.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis of Derek Parfit's ethical theories on the nonidentity problem and population ethics.
Application of these theories to hypothetical scenarios involving the creation of individuals with lives of questionable value.

Main Results:

The study suggests that if every family line is destined to produce an individual with a life not worth living, and if the benefits to others cannot justify this, then having children could be deemed wrong.
Parfit's ethical framework, when extended, could logically support an antinatalist stance, though he did not explicitly draw this conclusion.

Conclusions:

Parfit's nonidentity problem, when applied to the creation of individuals with lives barely worth living, opens the door to a potential antinatalist conclusion.
The antinatalist position, derived from Parfit's ethics, warrants consideration within discussions on population ethics and the future of reproduction.