Philosophy of Population Ethics

On October 26th, members of Humanities and I ventured to McPherson for a dinner & dialogue event that consisted of a discussion on population ethics. Population ethics is the philosophical study of the moral ramifications and decisions regarding reproduction and the overall well-being of a community. Professor Don Hubin, the philosophy department chair, led the discussion with both knowledge of and fervor for the subject. He had us consider total vs. average utilitarianism, or how happiness can be measured both by total happiness within a population and average happiness of each individual. By assigning "happiness units" to different people under given situations, he helped us weigh the pros and cons of bringing a child into the world and whose happiness such an act would affect. We discussed the moral considerations that go into decisions such as abortion and use of contraception, ultimately drawing the conclusion that sometimes it is better to not have a child if that child's life will be significantly difficult, resulting in a decrease in happiness for that individual. While this discussion seemed controversial on the surface, its main argument boils down to questions of moral obligation and life value, which are endlessly fascinating topics to me since I am a philosophy major. I thoroughly enjoyed this discussion, and I encourage others to consider ethical questions such as these in order to further examine the value of life and how decisions can be logically argued in order to favor the outcome that offers the most happiness.