@philosophyminis: Anti-natalism is the idea that it's wrong to have kids. It argues that anybody who chooses to have biological children is immoral. One of the first and often most cited proponents of this is the philosopher, David Benatar. Benatar argues that we each give an ‘unreliable assessment’ of how good our lives actually are. We say things are great, but actually life is always worse than we let on. Humans tend to be optimistic. We tend to focus on the rare and fleeting moments of happiness that pop up in the long night of misery that makes up reality. We shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Oh, it's not so bad,’ but it really is. The only reason we delude ourselves like this is to carry on the species. Because everybody admitted how miserable life actually was, we wouldn't bother to reproduce. Evolution demands that we be optimistic. Evolution demands that we pretend life is great. But Benatar argues that we are rational beings, and we can look on the world as it actually is: a world full of harm and set only to get worse. And so, bringing children into this will increase net suffering. This all leads Benatar to conclude that having kids is wrong. And he explains it this way: ‘Each of us was harmed by being brought into existence, because the quality of even the best lives is very bad and worse than most people recognize it to be. But it is not too late to prevent the existence of future possible people.’ So is Benatar, right? Is it a duty not to have kids?

Jonny Thomson

Open In TikTok:

Region: GB

Friday 20 December 2024 14:45:00 GMT