While locking up loving parents is an emblem of civilization, I presume?
I said nothing about brain cells. I asked how many other healthy parts of a child’s body parents are permitted to cut off in Western law
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None, as far as I know. Of course, if you define 'bodily integrity' so narrow that only circumcision violates it, you'll always be right. But the simple point is: parents are allowed to harm their children in other, often more harmful ways, for non-religious reasons.
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“But there are other things that are also harmful” has never been a good argument or response to, “This is harmful.” If parents harm their children in other ways, I object to those harms too
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But then the issue of equity arises. Would you really want to prohibit procreation above 40 (for men) or 30 (for women)? Would you prohibit unhealthy diets? Living in a city (fine dust, and considerably shorter life-expectation)? All this creates serious bodily risks.
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It is impossible to harm a child by bringing it into existence. This is the non-identity problem (a different child would be created by a younger father). Once a child exists however, it is wrong to harm it. Whether all wrongs should be illegal is a separate issue.
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Of course not. We now know that fathering a child above 40 brings serious health risks to your child. Actually, far worse than MGC. If you choose to take this risk, you are responsible.
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are you aware of the non-identity problem in reproductive ethics? A child cannot be harmed by the very act of reproduction in virtue of which it exists. -
In general true. But this isn't merely a matter of non-identity, but a matter of a responsible choice at what age you procreate (ceteris paribus, of course). So, there is a moral issue here in our age of postponed family-formation due to career-building, etc.
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Yes there may be other reasons not to delay procreation too late, but harm to the child cannot be one of those reasons
End of conversation
New conversation -
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