605. Existing Or Not Existing
Breeders and anti-abortion people often ask persons like me the question, what if their parents had refused to breed or had aborted them.
There is a simple answer to this. A non-existing person cannot miss herself or himself and can also not be missed by anybody.
Breeders and anti-abortion people often ask persons like me the question, what if their parents had refused to breed or had aborted them.
There is a simple answer to this. A non-existing person cannot miss herself or himself and can also not be missed by anybody.
Therefore logically the non-existence cannot be compared with existing.
Every time an unfertilized egg is discarded from a woman's body, the consequence is one additional non-existence of one of countless potential combinations of genes, which could have become anything between a moron and a genius, between a monster and a benefactor. Reasonably nobody bothers.
The complementary question is as valid. What justifies parents to force children into existence, who cannot be asked for consent? To do so is a huge responsibility for parents, as long as too many people are so much driven by animal instincts, that at any opportunity they do not hesitate to harm others very easily. Every child has the potential to become either a victim, who suffers, or a transgressor, who harms others, or both.
Every time an unfertilized egg is discarded from a woman's body, the consequence is one additional non-existence of one of countless potential combinations of genes, which could have become anything between a moron and a genius, between a monster and a benefactor. Reasonably nobody bothers.
The complementary question is as valid. What justifies parents to force children into existence, who cannot be asked for consent? To do so is a huge responsibility for parents, as long as too many people are so much driven by animal instincts, that at any opportunity they do not hesitate to harm others very easily. Every child has the potential to become either a victim, who suffers, or a transgressor, who harms others, or both.
Indirectly the breeding parents are responsible for all the harm due to the existence of their offspring.
Therefore, the decision between breeding and not breeding can rationally only be based upon considerations concerning the impact of breeding upon the parents themselves. No breeders are able to make a correct prognosis about the amount of harm to be suffered and caused by their offspring.
Therefore, the decision between breeding and not breeding can rationally only be based upon considerations concerning the impact of breeding upon the parents themselves. No breeders are able to make a correct prognosis about the amount of harm to be suffered and caused by their offspring.
