Princeton Philosopher: ‘Why Not Sterilize the Human Race and Party into Extinction?’

LifeSiteNews ^ | 6/8/10 | Peter J. Smith

[wagglebee]

NEW YORK, June 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Princeton philosopher Peter Singer one of the world’s foremost contemporary utilitarian philosophers infamous for his advocacy of infanticide, would like individuals to consider this question: would sterilizing the human race to spare future generations the pain of existence be a good idea?

In a blog post for the New York Times entitled “Should this be the last generation?” Singer discusses in glowing terms the thought of South African philosopher David Benatar. Singer calls Benator the “author of a fine book with an arresting title: ‘Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence.’”

“To bring into existence someone who will suffer is, Benatar argues, to harm that person, but to bring into existence someone who will have a good life is not to benefit him or her,” explains Singer.

Both Singer and Benatar both believe that human beings do not have inherent dignity. Singer, the Princeton Chair of Bioethics, has gained notoriety for asserting that infanticide is justifiable, especially for disabled infants, because they lack self-awareness, which he asserts is a requirement for personhood.

A key difference, however, between Singer and Benatar, an existential nihilist who chairs the Department of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, is that Singer believes life could be worth living in certain conditions. But Benatar flat out rejects existence as good, and the still-living author discusses that view in his controversial book.

Singer explains Benatar’s antinatalist philosophy, which bases its moral framework by weighing the consequences of existence, in this way: “everyone will suffer to some extent, and if our species continues to reproduce, we can be sure that some future children will suffer severely. Hence continued reproduction will harm some children severely, and benefit none.”

Singer then invites readers to engage in a thought experiment: “So why don’t we make ourselves the last generation on earth? If we would all agree to have ourselves sterilized then no sacrifices would be required — we could party our way into extinction!”

“Even if we take a less pessimistic view of human existence than Benatar, we could still defend [this scenario], because it makes us better off — for one thing, we can get rid of all that guilt about what we are doing to future generations — and it doesn’t make anyone worse off, because there won’t be anyone else to be worse off,” he continued.

Singer distances himself from Benatar’s conclusions, however, and says, “I do think it would be wrong to choose the non-sentient universe.” Nevertheless, he said that for the human race to continue justifying reproducing itself over the next two centuries, individuals should ask themselves the hard questions of, “Is life worth living? Are the interests of a future child a reason for bringing that child into existence? And is the continuance of our species justifiable in the face of our knowledge that it will certainly bring suffering to innocent future human beings?”

Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith, a longtime critic of Singer’s work, responded to Singer’s recent article, saying, “This is nihilism on stilts and it is polluting the West’s self confidence and belief in universal human equality like the BP oil well is polluting the Caribbean.

“Only the resulting mess isn’t measured in polluted beaches and dead birds, but existential despair that destroys human lives.”

“Under the influence of anti-human advocates like Peter Singer, we have gone in the West from seeking to ‘secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity,’ to seriously questioning whether there should be any posterity at all,” Smith wrote on his blog. “This is not healthy. But it is the natural consequence of rejecting human exceptionalism.”

[AnAmericanMother]

You said it.

I was horrified when my alma mater gave this murderous little SOB a professorial chair.

My daughter was wait-listed for Princeton, and I could have called in every favor anybody ever owed me and shoehorned her in. But given the direction the school has taken, she decided she would really rather go somewhere else.

She just graduated from Davidson College, a great little Presbyterian school. They are not too badly infected with the liberal nonsense . . . yet.

[Rebelbase]

“‘Why Not Sterilize the Human Race and Party into Extinction?’”

I prefer to party without sterilization.

[Gator113]

Singer is ready to be advanced to Obama’s administration.

[Popman]

...for one thing, we can get rid of all that guilt about what we are doing to future generations —

Seriously, how does one wake up every morning believing they are guilty of hurting their children by merely existing ???

At some point in the future, I guess you feed your brain a lead enema to kill your guilt.

Hope Singer does it quickly and spare us his moronic ravings

[GenXteacher]

He is in fact a fraud. He makes a career spouting excrement he doesn’t believe. The proof? He’s still walking around!

[TexasCajun]

You first Peter!!

The author is like a radical imam, "allah wants YOU to blow yourself up, not ME."

[WestTexasWend]

Singer and Kervorkian should practice what they preach..on each other...the sooner the better.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

If I were converted to these savants’ doctrine, I would feel no compunction about making them martyrs to their cause. What better way to advance their cause than to apply their reasoning to them!?

However, since my starting point is faith in Christ, as taught by his apostles, they are safe from me and similar believers, who live according to the the teaching that we are to give deference to God’s wrath (Romans 12:19-21). If our God could not dispose of such malefactors in His own way and in His own time, He would not be worthy of our worship. But He is.

On the other hand, if they or their disciples were to attempt to apply their doctrine to the rest of us, say by seizing control of a nuclear weapons arsenal and using it to liquidate their neighbors, or disseminating a genetically engineered plague virus (e.g, as depicted in the film “Twelve Monkeys”), then for the love of my neighbors, or even some lesser plan for extermination, then I would have to do whatever was in my power to stop them, even if it resulted in their ‘untimely’ demise. Standing aside for God’s wrath is no excuse for failing to do what I can to protect my neighbor’s lives. That’s one of the obligations of neighborliness, as the Neighborly Samaritan demonstrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Monkeys

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Why not seal Peter Singer in a hypobaric chamber and watch him pop like a balloon?

Just philosophizing a little here. Nothing to get alarmed about.

[Sawdring]

This guy typifies the so called Culture of Death. What he is offering the West is reverse Eugenics.

[The_Reader_David]

Would burning down Princeton save this country?

Too late! It should have been done when Woodrow Wilson was president (of Princeton).

(Though speaking as a Penn man, the idea does hold some charms, though I'd rather wait until my daughter finishes her doctorate there, unless you can arrange the conflagration for this summer when she's visiting ANU.)

[rbg81]

This bastard is evil incarnate!

---

Concur, he goes beyond sick into the evil category. Shockingly, this seems to be an increasingly common, morbid fantasy. There are books on this subject and documentaries (on Discover channel) speculating about what would happen if people suddenly “disappeared”. I swear there is a significant portion of our society that wishes itself away.

[muawiyah]

He’s not the species as I am. It would be acceptable to me for him to just disappear.

[Doulos1]

Along with Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, yes!

[Nowhere Man]

They ought to close Princeton down. That’s where Woodrow Wilson came from.

[Nowhere Man]

Would burning down Princeton save this country?

You beat me to it, I posted before I saw your comment.

[dr_lew]

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence.

This is an old Jewish joke, cited by Freud in Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious:

"Never to be born would be best for mortal man." "But," added the sages of the Fliegende Blaetter, "hardly one man in a hundred thousand has this luck."

[chris_bdba]

“the Pain of existance”? What the h*ll is he talking about? Perhaps the unhappy liberals are the ones who experince this?

[brushcop]

The God haters are really rising aren’t they?? It will do them no good, God is not mocked.

[chris_bdba]

Probably more than once but who’s counting! ;)