Procreation and Parenthood

David Archard has been Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at Lancaster University since 2003. Before that he taught at the Universities of Ulster and St Andrews. He has published widely in applied moral, political and legal philosophy, especially on the topics of children, family and state; and sexual morality and the law. He is Honorary Chair of the Society for Applied Philosophy. David Benatar is Professor and Head of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (Oxford, 2006).

Archard and Benatar have assembled six excellent essays, three concerning the ethics of creating life and three concerning the ethics of providing parental care. Each essay is clearly written and well argued, clearly situates its contribution in the larger literature, and makes an original contribution that advances the conversation of which it is a part. This makes the book both a must-read for those already working in these areas and an excellent point-of-entry for those who are not.

• Preface ; 1. Introduction ; 2. In defence of genethical parity ; 3. An ordinary chance of a desirable existence ; 4. The limits of reproductive freedom ; 5. The obligations and responsibilities of parenthood ; 6. Parental responsibilities in an unjust world ; 7. Willing parents: A voluntarist account of parental role obligations