Abstract
This paper argues against Julian Savulescu’s principle of procreative beneficence. It maintains that prospective parents have no obligation at all to choose the child, out of a range of possible children, who is likely to lead the best life. This is because a standpoint that the author labels “the internal perspective” is a perfectly appropriate one for parents to adopt when thinking about their own future children. It is only policy makers who are obliged to take up an opposing standpoint—“the external perspective”—and to be motivated by the sorts of “better for” judgements that that perspective delivers.
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Herissone-Kelly, P. (2009). Two Varieties of “Better-For” Judgements. In: Roberts, M.A., Wasserman, D.T. (eds) Harming Future Persons. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 35. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5697-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5697-0_12
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