Is it immoral to procreate?

oneiopen

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Mar 19, 2007
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Global warming, population explosion, declining ethics, war, genocide. Does the human race have any hope of a meaningful survival and experience? Should we celebrate or lament the birth of a new person?
 

hermanntrude

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Jun 23, 2006
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I'd like to counter your question with another:

Is it immoral to ask people NOT to procreate? since it's a built-in instinct and very hard to resist in some cases.
 

TenPenny

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Jun 9, 2004
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According to some, it's immoral to have sex without procreating; to some it's immoral to procreate.

What to do, what to do.

F^*k it.

Oh, that's the problem.

Hmmmmm.
 
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thomaska

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May 24, 2006
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Global warming, population explosion, declining ethics, war, genocide. Does the human race have any hope of a meaningful survival and experience? Should we celebrate or lament the birth of a new person?


Which position would this procreation you speak of, be done in?:smile:
 

oneiopen

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Mar 19, 2007
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I'd like to counter your question with another:

Is it immoral to ask people NOT to procreate? since it's a built-in instinct and very hard to resist in some cases.

There's a major difference between having sex and the active decision to bring another human being into the world, especially in a society where preventative, and after-the-fact, contraception is readily available. Having a child today is a conscious choice.
 

hermanntrude

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Jun 23, 2006
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you misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that the urge to have sex is being denied. I was really speaking of the urge to reproduce. Possibly you are too young to know of this urge, but most people, at a certain age, realise that a part of their life's purpose is to reproduce. I believe this is a biological urge, an instinctive drive which cannot easily be ignored.

EDIT:

I just read your profile, and learned that you're obviously not too young to know of this urge and in fact have fulfilled it.
 

oneiopen

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Mar 19, 2007
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you misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that the urge to have sex is being denied. I was really speaking of the urge to reproduce. Possibly you are too young to know of this urge, but most people, at a certain age, realise that a part of their life's purpose is to reproduce. I believe this is a biological urge, an instinctive drive which cannot easily be ignored.

EDIT:

I just read your profile, and learned that you're obviously not too young to know of this urge and in fact have fulfilled it.

Yes, and wonder if having children was in fact the right decision. I understand your point about the instinctive drive to have children but I think humans, as thinking animals, have the ability to make rational and informed choices about procreation and whether it benefits us on a larger, less personal level.
 

thomaska

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May 24, 2006
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Well if people don't procreate anymore, all of the problems you listed as reasons not to have kids will be solved, won't they? Sorta elementary..I think.

While I'm at it..I don't like my nose, I think maybe cutting off my head will fix it.
 

hermanntrude

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I used to believe that procreation was a bad thing to do. maybe not immoral but just not good news for your offspring or yourself. Somehow as i grew up I changed my mind.

Certainly there is a possibility to consider procreation as somehow immoral, but the only way to regulate the morality would be to legislate against excessive procreation, and that's what gave rise to my question:

Is it moral to demand that others cease or refrain from procreating?
 

oneiopen

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Mar 19, 2007
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I used to believe that procreation was a bad thing to do. maybe not immoral but just not good news for your offspring or yourself. Somehow as i grew up I changed my mind.

Certainly there is a possibility to consider procreation as somehow immoral, but the only way to regulate the morality would be to legislate against excessive procreation, and that's what gave rise to my question:

Is it moral to demand that others cease or refrain from procreating?

Right, like it has been China or India in the past, but apart from legislated compliance, I simply wonder if people as individuals in the western world turn their minds to notions of "zero population growth" before making the decision to have children, and if they don't whether they should.
 

hermanntrude

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Jun 23, 2006
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Right, like it has been China or India in the past, but apart from legislated compliance, I simply wonder if people as individuals in the western world turn their minds to notions of "zero population growth" before making the decision to have children, and if they don't whether they should.

If all the individuals in the world were like you, then maybe people would act like that. But the fact is that a large proportion of the world's populous aren't going to suddenly think to themselves "The world is too populated. I shall refrain from having more than one child", and a smaller (but still large in absolute terms) proportion will think "this world is overpopulated, and resources are thin on the ground, If I wish my people to have any future, I should make as many as possible"