TY  - EJOU
AU  - McMahan, M. Jeff
TI  - Thou Shalt Not Create; But If Thou Dost, Thou Shalt Kill? A Comment on Belshaw
T2  - Journal of Controversial Ideas

PY  - 2024
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
SN  - 2694-5991

AB  - In his article “Anti-Natalism and the Asymmetry” in this issue, Christopher Belshaw defends the common-sense view that, while there is a reason not to cause individuals to exist whose lives would not be worth living, there is no reason to cause individuals to exist just because their lives would be worth living. But the reasons why these claims are true, he argues, also imply that it is wrong to cause individuals to exist even if their lives would be worth living. I argue that the moral asymmetry between intrinsic goods and intrinsic evils that is the basis of his view is too strong, and that a more defensible view includes a recognition that there is a moral reason to cause well-off individuals to exist, though it is less strong than the reason not to cause an equivalently badly-off individual to exist, and that this weaker asymmetry supports the view that procreation is generally permissible.
KW  - Christopher Belshaw
KW  - the Asymmetry
KW  - anti-natalism
KW  - procreation
KW  - noncomparative benefits
KW  - noncomparative harms
KW  - Sadistic Conclusion
DO  - 10.35995/jci04010006