The Paradox of Future Individuals Flashcards

The Paradox of Future Individuals

Gregory Kavka explores moral obligations to future generations, highlighting a paradox arising from the contingency of existence. Policies affecting conception lead to different individuals existing, challenging standard moral principles.

Key Argument

Kavka discusses an argument suggesting no moral obligation to future generations beyond the next few, based on the premise that altering conception conditions results in entirely different individuals. Improving future living conditions through policies like population control would change who exists, and those existing under laissez-faire policies aren't worse off since they wouldn't have existed otherwise.

Obligation Principle

The Obligation Principle states that we only have an obligation to choose action A over B if choosing B would make a specific person worse off than if A were chosen. This principle is key to the paradox. "Existence" and "being worse off" are construed in a timeless sense.

Critique of the Obligation Principle

The Obligation Principle is challenged through examples: choosing nuclear energy over solar (leading to future deaths from radiation) and taking a pill that slightly enhances pleasure but causes mild handicaps in offspring. In these cases, the principle seems to permit actions that are intuitively wrong. The introduction of the Extended Obligation Principle ((i) if\ one\ chose\ B,\ some\ particular\ person\ would\ exist\ and\ be\ worse\ off\ than\ if\ one\ had\ chosen\ A,\ or\ (ii)\ if\ one\ chose\ A,\ some\ particular\ person\ would\ exist\ and\ be\ better\ off\ than\ if\ one\ had\ chosen\ B.) This still has limitations.

The Case of the Slave Child

A couple is offered money to have a child who will be a slave. The Extended Obligation Principle doesn't deem this wrong since the child's life as a slave is assumed to be better than never existing. This highlights the inadequacy of individualistic obligation principles in cases involving the creation of persons.

Restricted Lives and Misuse of Reproduction

The concept of a "restricted life" is introduced, referring to lives significantly deficient in key aspects that make life valuable. The principle suggests that societies with more people living restricted lives are intrinsically undesirable. The couple misuses their reproductive powers by exploiting control over life to extort an unfair price.

Extortion

Analogies involving water scarcity and future societies with rejuvenation technology illustrate the immorality of extorting high prices for essential benefits like existence. These examples share features like a person in control of a benefit, potential recipients with no entitlement to it, unearned control, and an exorbitant price exacted for the benefit.