Should We Perpetuate the Human Tragedy? Values in Crisis

At this point in the development of human environmental and self-awareness, a new question is receiving increasing attention: whether humans should continue to inflict potential suffering by the very act of creating more humans. The present work dives into the ethical and rational issues at stake to show which questions are relevant to deciding the controversy. Characterizing reproduction as an isolable deliberative act, it argues that this act falls within the moral domain. It shows how moral philosophy has long ignored this issue or handled it only indirectly. Recent inquiries into whether humans should reproduce are also found wanting, particularly in overlooking the fundamental issue of why one should reproduce. Finally, the inquiry finds that cultural and personal values are most pivotal in answering this question—yet values in our industrial, inegalitarian societies have generated a profound crisis in opposition to the basic valuing of life in and of itself.