MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Cremaschi, Sergio
Data de Publicação: 2017
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: por
Título da fonte: Pensando
Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/3340
Resumo: I argue that Malthus’s Essay on Population is more a treatise in applied ethics than the first treatise in demography. I argue also that, as an ethical work, it is a highly innovative one. The substitution of procreation for sex as the focus makes for a drastic change in the agenda. What had been basically lacking in the discussion up to Malthus’s time was a consideration of human beings’ own responsibility in the decision of procreating. This makes for a remarkable change also in the approach, namely, the discussion becomes an examination of a well-identified issue, taking cause-effect relationships into account in order to assess possible lines of conduct in the light of some, widely shared and comparatively minimal, value judgements. This is more or less the approach of what is now called applied ethics, at least according to one of its accounts, or perhaps to the account shared by a vast majority of its practitioners. In a sense, both the subject matter, sexuality, was substituted with a more restricted issue, namely reproduction, and the traditional approach, moral doctrine, was substituted with a more modest approach, in Malthus’s own words, the “moral and political science”. Such a drastic transformation brought about a viable framework, for a discussion of ethical issues that were still unforeseen by Malthus, namely those having to do first with the technical feasibility of eugenics programs and secondly with the scientific discovery of genetics as a field of study but also of possible intervention. Malthus’s ethics had obviously enough nothing to say on those unforeseen issues in so far as it was meant to treat just the ‘quantitative’ dimension of procreation, that is, “how many”. Later discussions and controversies will arise around different dimensions, that is, not just ‘how many’ but also ‘how healthy, how strong, how far empowered’. Yet, what Malthus’s lesson can still teach to proponents of opposite views is that the mentioned questions can be construed in such a way as to avoid unending controversy.
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spelling MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICSpopulationpovertyvirtuessexapplied ethicsI argue that Malthus’s Essay on Population is more a treatise in applied ethics than the first treatise in demography. I argue also that, as an ethical work, it is a highly innovative one. The substitution of procreation for sex as the focus makes for a drastic change in the agenda. What had been basically lacking in the discussion up to Malthus’s time was a consideration of human beings’ own responsibility in the decision of procreating. This makes for a remarkable change also in the approach, namely, the discussion becomes an examination of a well-identified issue, taking cause-effect relationships into account in order to assess possible lines of conduct in the light of some, widely shared and comparatively minimal, value judgements. This is more or less the approach of what is now called applied ethics, at least according to one of its accounts, or perhaps to the account shared by a vast majority of its practitioners. In a sense, both the subject matter, sexuality, was substituted with a more restricted issue, namely reproduction, and the traditional approach, moral doctrine, was substituted with a more modest approach, in Malthus’s own words, the “moral and political science”. Such a drastic transformation brought about a viable framework, for a discussion of ethical issues that were still unforeseen by Malthus, namely those having to do first with the technical feasibility of eugenics programs and secondly with the scientific discovery of genetics as a field of study but also of possible intervention. Malthus’s ethics had obviously enough nothing to say on those unforeseen issues in so far as it was meant to treat just the ‘quantitative’ dimension of procreation, that is, “how many”. Later discussions and controversies will arise around different dimensions, that is, not just ‘how many’ but also ‘how healthy, how strong, how far empowered’. Yet, what Malthus’s lesson can still teach to proponents of opposite views is that the mentioned questions can be construed in such a way as to avoid unending controversy.EDUFPI2017-01-23info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/334010.26694/pensando.v7i14.4940PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA; Vol. 7 No. 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-75PENSANDO - REVUE DE PHILOSOPHIE; Vol. 7 No 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-75PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA; v. 7 n. 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-752178-843Xreponame:Pensandoinstname:Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)instacron:UFPIporhttps://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/3340/2922Copyright (c) 2022 PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIAinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessCremaschi, Sergio 2022-10-29T15:29:05Zoai:periodicos.ufpi.br:article/3340Revistahttp://www.ojs.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/indexPUBhttps://revistas.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/oai||revista.pensando@gmail.com2178-843X2178-843Xopendoar:2022-10-29T15:29:05Pensando - Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)false
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
title MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
spellingShingle MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
Cremaschi, Sergio
population
poverty
virtues
sex
applied ethics
title_short MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
title_full MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
title_fullStr MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
title_full_unstemmed MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
title_sort MALTHUS ON SEX, PROCREATION, AND APPLIED ETHICS
author Cremaschi, Sergio
author_facet Cremaschi, Sergio
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Cremaschi, Sergio
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv population
poverty
virtues
sex
applied ethics
topic population
poverty
virtues
sex
applied ethics
description I argue that Malthus’s Essay on Population is more a treatise in applied ethics than the first treatise in demography. I argue also that, as an ethical work, it is a highly innovative one. The substitution of procreation for sex as the focus makes for a drastic change in the agenda. What had been basically lacking in the discussion up to Malthus’s time was a consideration of human beings’ own responsibility in the decision of procreating. This makes for a remarkable change also in the approach, namely, the discussion becomes an examination of a well-identified issue, taking cause-effect relationships into account in order to assess possible lines of conduct in the light of some, widely shared and comparatively minimal, value judgements. This is more or less the approach of what is now called applied ethics, at least according to one of its accounts, or perhaps to the account shared by a vast majority of its practitioners. In a sense, both the subject matter, sexuality, was substituted with a more restricted issue, namely reproduction, and the traditional approach, moral doctrine, was substituted with a more modest approach, in Malthus’s own words, the “moral and political science”. Such a drastic transformation brought about a viable framework, for a discussion of ethical issues that were still unforeseen by Malthus, namely those having to do first with the technical feasibility of eugenics programs and secondly with the scientific discovery of genetics as a field of study but also of possible intervention. Malthus’s ethics had obviously enough nothing to say on those unforeseen issues in so far as it was meant to treat just the ‘quantitative’ dimension of procreation, that is, “how many”. Later discussions and controversies will arise around different dimensions, that is, not just ‘how many’ but also ‘how healthy, how strong, how far empowered’. Yet, what Malthus’s lesson can still teach to proponents of opposite views is that the mentioned questions can be construed in such a way as to avoid unending controversy.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-01-23
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/3340
10.26694/pensando.v7i14.4940
url https://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/3340
identifier_str_mv 10.26694/pensando.v7i14.4940
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv por
language por
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.ufpi.br/index.php/pensando/article/view/3340/2922
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 2022 PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 2022 PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDUFPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDUFPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA; Vol. 7 No. 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-75
PENSANDO - REVUE DE PHILOSOPHIE; Vol. 7 No 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-75
PENSANDO - REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA; v. 7 n. 14 (2016): VARIA; 48-75
2178-843X
reponame:Pensando
instname:Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)
instacron:UFPI
instname_str Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)
instacron_str UFPI
institution UFPI
reponame_str Pensando
collection Pensando
repository.name.fl_str_mv Pensando - Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)
repository.mail.fl_str_mv ||revista.pensando@gmail.com
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