The Asymmetry

Bibliographic Data

ID23201501
AuthorsRalf M Bader (0000-0002-2619-1437, corresponding author)
Year2022
Pages15-37
Publication date2022-01-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEthics and Existence (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780192894250.003.0002
OpenAlexW4205967086
ISBN9780192894250
LanguageEN
Citations received8

This chapter provides an account of the asymmetry in population ethics. The first half of the asymmetry is explicated by means of a person-affecting view, whereas the second half is established by means of a structural consistency constraint. This account can be integrated into a general theory that can handle (i) cases where there are externalities in that members of the original distribution are positively or negatively affected by bringing the miserable life into existence, (ii) cases in which one is concerned not only with bringing individual persons into existence but also groups of people, and (iii) situations in which it is uncertain whether an action will result in the addition of lives that are worth not living.

Action (physics) · Asymmetry · Consistency (knowledge bases) · Constraint (computer-aided design) · Discrete mathematics · Distribution (mathematics) · Economics · Epistemology · Externality · Mathematical analysis · Mathematical economics · Microeconomics · Physics · Population · Positive economics · Sociology · Demography · Mathematics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology

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