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Most people (including moral philosophers), when faced with the fact that some of their cherished moral views lead up to the Repugnant Conclusion, feel that they have to revise their moral outlook. However, it is a moot question as to how this should be done. It is not an easy thing to say how one should avoid the Repugnant Conclusion, without having to face even more serious implications from one's basic moral outlook. Several such attempts are presented in this volume. This is the first volume devoted entirely to the cardinal problem of modern population ethics, known as 'The Repugnant Conclusion'.
This book is a must for (moral) philosophers with an interest in population ethics.
List of contents
Overpopulation and the Quality of Life.- Two Parfit Puzzles.- Critical-Level Population Principles And The Repugnant Conclusion.- O Repugnance, Where Is Thy Sting?.- Resolving The Repugnant Conclusion.- Person-Based Consequentialism And The Procreation Obligation.- Person-Affecting Moralities.- Repugnance Or Intransitivity: A Repugnant But Forced Choice.- The Root Of The Repugnant Conclusion And Its Rebuttal.- The Paradoxes Of Future Generations And Normative Theory.- Why We Ought To Accept The Repugnant Conclusion.- The Repugnant Conclusion And Worthwhile Living.- Postscript.
Summary
Most people (including moral philosophers), when faced with the fact that some of their cherished moral views lead up to the Repugnant Conclusion, feel that they have to revise their moral outlook. However, it is a moot question as to how this should be done. It is not an easy thing to say how one should avoid the Repugnant Conclusion, without having to face even more serious implications from one's basic moral outlook. Several such attempts are presented in this volume. This is the first volume devoted entirely to the cardinal problem of modern population ethics, known as 'The Repugnant Conclusion'.
This book is a must for (moral) philosophers with an interest in population ethics.
Additional text
From a pre-publication review:
"The strongest quality of this manuscript is that a very important problem in theoretical ethics gets a thorough treatment from different angles and by highly qualified authors. [...] it is very readable and suggestive. The introduction ties the contributions together in an instructive way and the various contributions are arranged in a logical way. Furthermore, the contributions all seem to take part in the same discussion and seem to be aware of each other. This gives freshness to the book. [...] the contributions are imaginative and pedagogical."
Report
From a pre-publication review:
"The strongest quality of this manuscript is that a very important problem in theoretical ethics gets a thorough treatment from different angles and by highly qualified authors. [...] it is very readable and suggestive. The introduction ties the contributions together in an instructive way and the various contributions are arranged in a logical way. Furthermore, the contributions all seem to take part in the same discussion and seem to be aware of each other. This gives freshness to the book. [...] the contributions are imaginative and pedagogical."
