tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post3812191519951398252..comments2024-03-28T19:56:42.305-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Reproductive ethicsAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-29888368334823291782008-02-28T14:46:00.000-06:002008-02-28T14:46:00.000-06:00I should add that a version of the radical argumen...I should add that a version of the radical argument was given by Joseph Spoerl (American Journal of Jurisprudence, 2000). I'd like to than Ryan Anderson for letting me know about the Spoerl piece.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-38971699013051689792008-02-28T14:44:00.000-06:002008-02-28T14:44:00.000-06:00There is an intention to love the child for its ow...There is an intention to love the child for its own sake, indeed, but that is not the same as an intention to produce the child for the child's own sake. The claim that the radical argument makes is that it is not possible to produce the child for the child's own sake--that would be viciously justificationally circular, in that it would presuppose the child's existence.<BR/><BR/>Here's an analogy that involves a similar problem. Suppose that one accepts Frankfurt's official view. Then, one can one only be well off in virtue of having fulfilled endorsed desires. And suppose one doesn't yet have any endorsed desires. Would one have any reason to induce in oneself endorsed desires (e.g., through therapy) in order to be well off? No: for absent endorsed desires, on this view there are no reasons. Could we say that the future existence of the desires would retroactively justify one's seeking to have the desires no? No: there would be a vicious circularity here. (In a footnote, Frankfurt considers the possibility that there might be an exception to has account of mattering precisely to handle this kind of a case. The exception would be that even absent endorsed desires, it would be worth having endorsed desires.)Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-90452831000402566352008-02-28T14:25:00.000-06:002008-02-28T14:25:00.000-06:00I’ll just speculate that this line of reasoning is...I’ll just speculate that this line of reasoning isn’t going to work. In most attempts to have a child, there is some thought that having a child would be good for the couple; there is also the intention to love the child for its own sake. One could say the same about an adoption: the couple intends to pursue their own good, as well as the child’s, in adopting it. IVF seems like it’s in the same boat: a couple is producing a child, if you like, for the good of the couple, while also intending the good of the child.<BR/><BR/>In all three of these cases, it’s implausibly restrictive to say there must be no consideration for the interests of the couple. And it is clearly treating the child as a means if there is no consideration for the interests of the child (we just want an extra farm hand, say). But I’m not seeing a way to accuse IVF of using the child as a means (only?), that doesn’t apply to other cases of coming up with children to raise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com