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On the survival of humanity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Johann Frick Open the ORCID record for Johann Frick [Opens in a new window]
Johann Frick*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Center for Human Values, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
*
Email: jdfrick@princeton.edu
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Abstract

What moral reasons, if any, do we have to ensure the long-term survival of humanity? This article contrastively explores two answers to this question: according to the first, we should ensure the survival of humanity because we have reason to maximize the number of happy lives that are ever lived, all else equal. According to the second, seeking to sustain humanity into the future is the appropriate response to the final value of humanity itself. Along the way, the article discusses various issues in population axiology, particularly the so-called Intuition of Neutrality and John Broome’s ‘greediness objection’ to this intuition.

Keywords

Population ethicsaxiologysurvival of humanityintuition of neutralityJohn Broome
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 47 , Issue 2-3: Special issue: Ethics and Future Generations , 2017 , pp. 344 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

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