Coercive population policies, procreative freedom, and morality

Bibliographic Data

ID12459684
AuthorsJuha Räikkä (0000-0001-7728-1283, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume4
Issue1
Pages67-77
Publication date2001-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy and Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1090-3771 • E-ISSN: 1472-7242
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10903770123420
OpenAlexW2046116534
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

I shall briefly evaluate the common claim that ethically acceptable population policies must let individuals to decide freely on the number of their children. I shall ask, first, what exactly is the relation between population policies that we find intuitively appealing, on the one hand, and population policies that maximize procreative freedom, on the other, and second, what is the relation between population policies that we tend to reject on moral grounds, on the one hand, and population policies that use coercive methods such as laws or economic incentives and deterrents, on the other. I shall argue that when changing a population policy, it may be morally desirable to affect people's procreative decisions more rather than less, and that sometimes it may be morally desirable to prefer a population policy that does not maximize procreative freedom to a population policy that does maximize it. I shall also point out that indirect population policies that use incentives and deterrents are not necessarily incompatible with liberal principles. Finally, I try to show what is assumed by those who defend the view that coercive population policies are morally wrong in all circumstances

Economics · Incentive · Law and economics · Microeconomics · Morality · Political science · Population · Relation (database · Sociology · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Computer Science · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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