Multidimensional Consequentialism and Population Ethics Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • The main claim of this chapter is that multidimensional consequentialists have reason to reject some of the key premises of Parfits Mere Addition Paradox as well as Arrheniuss sixth impossibility theorem. The latter is the most general and far-reaching impossibility theorem in the literature on population ethics. The chapter shows that multidimensional consequentialists can reasonably maintain that the mere addition of people who have lives worth living is not always entirely right. To add what Parfit calls extra people is right with respect to one moral aspect (the size of the population) but wrong with respect to another (the average quality of life).

author list (cited authors)

  • Peterson, M.

complete list of authors

  • Peterson, Martin

Book Title

  • Consequentialism

publication date

  • January 2019