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 Peg's
Polemic
Every
month, philosopher Peg Tittle casts off the calm, measured and qualified
style of her profession to deliver her opinionated and impassioned
column, exclusively for the TPM philosophy café...
Number
32. Pronatalism
Most
people associate pronatalism with religionism. Either because of
its 'go forth and multiply' view, its 'sanctity of life' view, or
its 'we have to outnumber them' view. I agree there's a relationship,
even a causal one. But it's not that religion 'causes' pronatalism;
rather, some other thing causes both religionism and pronatalism.
What
is this other thing? An inability to find fulfilment in the here
and now. The sci-fi stories featuring a 'last' generation always
seem to show some sort of widespread malaise, even despair. Many,
not content to die in a few years, decide to kill themselves immediately.
If I didn't know better, I'd call it an existential crisis. One
not handled very well. ('I'm too unimaginative or too lazy, or both,
to have made my life worthwhile. I know! I'll have kids - they'll
make my life worthwhile!) (And then in a really clever leap of logic,
they even blame the kids for their existential black hole - 'How
can I be out following some dream when I gotta put food on the table
for you kids?')
The
same people insist on believing there's a heaven no matter how many
photographs of 'up there' they're shown. (Never mind the extensive
non-visual physical evidence against the possibility.)
In
short, those of us who have purpose and value in our own lives have
no need of kids - or heaven. Those of us who don't, pass the buck.
.
Peg's
Polemic will next be updated mid September 2003
Previous
polemics
31.
30.
29.
28.
27.
26.
25.
24.
23.
22.
21.
20.
19.
18.
17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
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