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Antinatalism is the belief that having children is morally wrong. Have you guys ever heard of it before? What are your opinions?
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2012
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It's the ultimate supervillain psychology.
Start of a great epic battle between the forces of light and darkness.
"The only way to save everyone is to make everyone cease to exist."
...
Actually, it is a somewhat interesting philosophy in that it arrives at the start of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, but does not go all the way.
Rather than progress toward the cessation of suffering in this lifetime (or in a subsequent one), as Buddhism does, it basically throws its hands up and says, "There is nothing I can do to end my suffering; the best I can do is not spread that to anyone else."
From that standpoint I would consider it not a fully developed philosophy -- more one scratching at the beginning of a philosophy.
Anyway, the core value of anti-natalism is "happiness", in that it believes the ultimate goal of life is "happiness feelings."
Which basically resolves down to a values configuration (see the difference between people who value happiness vs. people who value meaning).
I can see it appealing to people who
It's a moral framework that fits these people's values and life goals. Any time I have perused anti-natalist stuff, it sounds a lot like a more polished version of the stuff you can find on /r/childfree.
Aside from that, like other sects that preach non-reproduction, it's ultimately doomed to failure -- anything that stops reproduction of its members fails the test of Darwinian evolution and very quickly self-selects out of existence (see: the Essenes, other anti-reproductive ideologies).
Unless an anti-natalist Thanos collects all the Infinity Stones and snaps us all out of existence first, that is!
Chase
Start of a great epic battle between the forces of light and darkness.
"The only way to save everyone is to make everyone cease to exist."
...
Actually, it is a somewhat interesting philosophy in that it arrives at the start of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, but does not go all the way.
Rather than progress toward the cessation of suffering in this lifetime (or in a subsequent one), as Buddhism does, it basically throws its hands up and says, "There is nothing I can do to end my suffering; the best I can do is not spread that to anyone else."
From that standpoint I would consider it not a fully developed philosophy -- more one scratching at the beginning of a philosophy.
Anyway, the core value of anti-natalism is "happiness", in that it believes the ultimate goal of life is "happiness feelings."
Which basically resolves down to a values configuration (see the difference between people who value happiness vs. people who value meaning).
I can see it appealing to people who
- Are happiness-valuing, but
- Feel their lives are net more suffering than happiness, and
- Have no strong internal drive to reproduce
It's a moral framework that fits these people's values and life goals. Any time I have perused anti-natalist stuff, it sounds a lot like a more polished version of the stuff you can find on /r/childfree.
Aside from that, like other sects that preach non-reproduction, it's ultimately doomed to failure -- anything that stops reproduction of its members fails the test of Darwinian evolution and very quickly self-selects out of existence (see: the Essenes, other anti-reproductive ideologies).
Unless an anti-natalist Thanos collects all the Infinity Stones and snaps us all out of existence first, that is!
Chase
