ShieldWife
Marchioness
Below is the copy of a post I made in the Transgender thread about the moral obligations, if any, of having children. Punch Card Girl asked me to make it a thread in this sub forum.
Moral obligations are a tricky thing. There are a great many activities which no one individual is obligated to engage in, and yet if no one did it, would be an utter disaster. Having children is included in this category.
This idea kind of borders on Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. To decide if an action is moral or immoral, imagine the outcome if everyone acted in such a way. Of course, the categorical imperative has its flaws, but he was onto something too.
What if no one had children anymore? Humanity would die out, which would be one of the very worst imaginable outcomes. What if we limit it to a single nation or people? What if British people all stopped having children? This would lead to an end to British people. Is this bad? I would say very much so. Oh sure, maybe immigration from Pakistan (just as one example) would bolster the declining British population - but though they may be living in the British Isles, they won’t be British people any more than I am a Cherokee because I am living on land that they used to occupy. If you think that it’s fine for the British to disappear and be replaced by Pakistanis, then I would invite you to live in the UK for a while and then live in Pakistan for a while and compare and contrast the differences.
Of course, nobody is obligated to have kids, unless nobody is having kids in which case maybe it starts to become an obligation.
Maybe no one is obligated to stand up for what they believe in when it is dangerous to do so, but if no one is willing to, then there will be profound tangible and negative effects from failure to engage in these non-obligations.
Moral obligations are a tricky thing. There are a great many activities which no one individual is obligated to engage in, and yet if no one did it, would be an utter disaster. Having children is included in this category.
This idea kind of borders on Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. To decide if an action is moral or immoral, imagine the outcome if everyone acted in such a way. Of course, the categorical imperative has its flaws, but he was onto something too.
What if no one had children anymore? Humanity would die out, which would be one of the very worst imaginable outcomes. What if we limit it to a single nation or people? What if British people all stopped having children? This would lead to an end to British people. Is this bad? I would say very much so. Oh sure, maybe immigration from Pakistan (just as one example) would bolster the declining British population - but though they may be living in the British Isles, they won’t be British people any more than I am a Cherokee because I am living on land that they used to occupy. If you think that it’s fine for the British to disappear and be replaced by Pakistanis, then I would invite you to live in the UK for a while and then live in Pakistan for a while and compare and contrast the differences.
Of course, nobody is obligated to have kids, unless nobody is having kids in which case maybe it starts to become an obligation.
Maybe no one is obligated to stand up for what they believe in when it is dangerous to do so, but if no one is willing to, then there will be profound tangible and negative effects from failure to engage in these non-obligations.