Wailing from the heights of velleity: A strong case for antinatalism in these trying times

Zandbergen, Robbert

doi:10.1080/02580136.2021.1949559

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Some studies confirm that they do [ 19 , 23 ], while others indicate that although prospective parents might express ecological attitudes and behaviors as well as climate-related beliefs, these do not change and definitely do not intensify after the birth of their offspring [ 20 , 21 , 34 ]. Thus, it is plausible that climate change concerns might affect reproductive decisions far less than is assumed in some theoretical analyses [ 3 , 12 ]. It is also possible that climate concerns, although present in clinical consultations in patients’ reports [ 35 ] and climate activists’ statements, are far less acknowledged by the so-called “general public”.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another wave of discussion links climate change to overpopulation. The philosophical views of antinatalism (the ethical view that negatively values procreation) are applied as the ground for arguments not only for the role of humans and overpopulation in climate change [ 11 , 12 ] but also as the justification for action [ 13 , 14 ] mainly targeted on rising awareness and choice enhancement related to individual reproductive decisions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reproductive Intentions Affected by Perceptions of Climate Change and Attitudes toward Death

Bielawska-Batorowicz

Zagaj

Kossakowska

2022

Behavioral Sciences

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Adverse climate change poses a threat to the health of pregnant women and unborn children and has a negative impact on the quality of life. Additionally, individuals with a high awareness of the consequences of climate change may be accompanied by a fear of the inevitable end, such as a fear of death. This, in turn, may discourage planning for offspring. Thus, both the perception of climate change and fear of death can have implications for reproductive intentions. Only a few studies to date indicate that concerns about climate change, especially when combined with attitudes towards death, may influence the formation of attitudes and reproductive plans. Thus, current research is aimed at looking at reproductive intentions from the perspective of both climate change concerns and the fear of death. This study was conducted from December 2020 to February 2021. A total of 177 childless males and females (58.8%) took part in the study. The Death Anxiety and Fascination Scale (DAFS) and Climate Change Perception Questionnaire (CCPQ) were completed online. Overall, 63.8% of respondents displayed a positive reproductive intention. Multivariable logistic regression analysis found that, in addition to the young age of respondents, the likelihood of positive reproductive intentions increases with death anxiety and decreases with death fascination and with climate health concerns. The results indicate that both climate change concerns and the fear of death are relevant to reproductive plans—positive reproductive intentions increase with death anxiety and decrease with death fascination and with climate health concerns. The results fill the gap in the existing research on predictors of reproductive intentions and can be used for further scientific exploration and practical activities addressing the issues of the determinants of decisions about having children. The individual consequences of climate change are clearly taken into account in the context of offspring planning and, therefore, should be considered in the design of social and environmental actions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive Intentions Affected by Perceptions of Climate Change and Attitudes toward Death

Bielawska-Batorowicz

Zagaj

Kossakowska

2022

Behavioral Sciences

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“…As I argue elsewhere (Zandbergen, 2021a, 2021c), Benatar's failure to engage metaphysically with his own doctrine, runs the risk of sinking the antinatalist ship. He must make the claim that humankind is, somehow, categorically unable to evade the clutch of suffering 12 .…”

Section: The Antinatalist Wagermentioning

confidence: 97%

“…As a result, …Benatar's goal is ultimately practical in the sense that what he wants to establish is that it is wrong to procreate, and that the claim that it would have been better for us if we had never come into existence mostly serves the purpose of establishing that practical conclusion [. ] (Ibid.,33) As I argue elsewhere (Zandbergen, 2021a(Zandbergen, , 2021c), Benatar's failure to engage metaphysically with his own doctrine, runs the risk of sinking the antinatalist ship. He must make the claim that humankind is, somehow, categorically unable to evade the clutch of suffering.…”

Section: The Antinatalist Wagermentioning

confidence: 99%

Unfeigning the delusion: Antinatalism and the end of suffering

Zandbergen

2022

Philosophy Compass

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In this article I explore the antinatalist view according to which it would be better if humans were to stop reproducing in order to contribute to the non-violent and voluntary extinction of the species as a whole. Not only is reproduction morally problematic in an already vastly overpopulated world, it is held that the human predicament can only be solved by slowly, but surely removing human presence altogether. Radical as this might sound, it must be noted that, far from a villainous distaste of human life and happiness, this view emerges from a careful consideration of the vicissitudes of ordinary human existence. In spite of innumerous earlier attempts, suffering cannot be blotted out in life. What is called for, then, is something more conclusive: we can only remove suffering when we get rid of that which suffers. Any other attempt at solving the human predicament ultimately represents a merely cosmetic approach to problem-solving and the eradication of suffering.

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“…Since non-human animals cannot meaningfully be said to have this capability, they can only be expected to, somehow, come up with their own non-human antinatalisms in due time, without the pernicious influence of humans continuing over them. For a critique of animal antinatalism see also Zandbergen (2021b) Contemporary transhumanism is a radical, modern outgrowth of earlier and more familiar humanisms. 10 It shares with these the ideal of perfection, but not the object of this perfection (Baumann 2010, 70).…”

Section: Transhumanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morality's Collapse

Zandbergen

2021

J. Eth. Emerg. Tech.

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In the present work I explore the unignorably momentous responsibility of contemporary philosophy to conclude the project of humanism as inherited from Enlightenment-era thinking. I argue that there are presently two avenues open to us. On the one hand there is antinatalism, according to which humankind must be gestured towards self-imposed extinction and thereby overcome. On the other hand, there is transhumanism which inspires the hope that we may transcend any limitations to our being and flourish as a result of radical enhancement, thereby also overcoming humankind. On both accounts, the ‘human’ is something to be overcome, either negatively (antinatalism) or positively (transhumanism). As both have a common ancestor in radical Enlightenment-era humanism, this choice between radical resignation and affirmation becomes all the more pertinent now that we find ourselves in modernity’s wake and in the ruins of morality’s collapse.

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Wailing from the heights of velleity: A strong case for antinatalism in these trying times

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Reproductive Intentions Affected by Perceptions of Climate Change and Attitudes toward Death

Reproductive Intentions Affected by Perceptions of Climate Change and Attitudes toward Death

Unfeigning the delusion: Antinatalism and the end of suffering

Morality's Collapse

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