An edition of Debating Procreation (2015)

Debating Procreation

Is It Wrong to Reproduce?

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Last edited by MARC Bot
September 19, 2025 | History
An edition of Debating Procreation (2015)

Debating Procreation

Is It Wrong to Reproduce?

  • 1 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

While procreation is ubiquitous, attention to the ethical issues involved in creating children is relatively rare. In Debating Procreation, David Benatar and David Wasserman take opposing views on this important question. David Benatar argues for the anti-natalist view that it is always wrong to bring new people into existence. He argues that coming into existence is always a serious harm and that even if it were not always so, the risk of serious harm is sufficiently great to make procreation wrong. In addition to these "philanthropic" arguments, he advances the "misanthropic" one that because humans are so defective and cause vast amounts of harm, it is wrong to create more of them. David Wasserman defends procreation against the anti-natalist challenge. He outlines a variety of moderate pro-natalist positions, which all see procreation as often permissible but never required. After criticizing the main anti-natalist arguments, he reviews those pronatalist positions. He argues that constraints on procreation are best understood in terms of the role morality of prospective parents, considers different views of that role morality, and argues for one that imposes only limited constraints based on the well-being of the future child. He then argues that the expected good of a future child and of the parent-child relationship can provide a strong justification for procreation in the face of expected adversities without giving individuals any moral reason to procreate.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
280

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Debating Procreation
Debating Procreation: Is It Wrong to Reproduce?
2015, Oxford University Press, Incorporated
in English
Cover of: Debating Procreation
Debating Procreation: Is It Wrong to Reproduce?
Jun 01, 2015, Oxford University Press
paperback in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Source title: Debating Procreation: Is It Wrong to Reproduce? (Debating Ethics)

Classifications

Library of Congress
BJ1335.D42 2015, BJ1335 .D42 2015, HQ766.15 .D42 2015

The Physical Object

Format
paperback
Number of pages
280

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL27517523M
ISBN 10
0199333556
ISBN 13
9780199333554
LCCN
2014042303
OCLC/WorldCat
900306346
Amazon ID (ASIN)
0199333556

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL20313144W

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September 19, 2025 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
November 13, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
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October 20, 2019 Created by ImportBot import new book