Ethics and Political Philosophy Group Talk (Rahul Kumar, Queen’s University)

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Research Group is pleased to welcome as guest speaker Rahul Kumar, professor and head of the Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University. His  primary research examines questions in non-consequentialist ethical theory, with particular focus on the strengths and pitfalls of Scanlon’s contractualism as a systematic expression of a non-consequentialist approach to the foundations of interpersonal obligation.

This is an in-person event, but those unable to come to campus may join the lecture via Zoom.

Talk Title

Contractualism and Non-Identity: A Reassessment

Talk Abstract

A person must decide between conceiving a child now or waiting a few months. If they conceive now, the child will most likely be born with significant physical impairments.  But if they both delay and undertake a course of medication, this risk will be significantly reduced. Intuitively, many want to say that delaying is what is owed to the prospective child. The non-identity problem implies that this thought is confused. Delaying is not owed to the child because a decision to conceive now does not wrong them. That is, the child born of that decision cannot say “you owed it to me to have delayed conception,” as delaying would not have resulted in their being born with better prospects. Someone else would have been born instead. In previous work, I’ve argued that if we reason about this kind of case in Scanlonian contractualist terms, we can straightforwardly make sense of the claim that choosing to conceive now rather than delaying is wrong because doing so wrongs the prospective child. In this paper, I revisit my position in light of certain plausible arguments that cast doubt on its cogency. In particular, I will focus on two questions. First, is the account of wronging I employ is too impersonal to do justice to intuitive convictions concerning the interpersonal significance of wronging? And second, what rests on being able to say that choosing to conceive now rather delaying wrongs the prospective child? 

About the Ethics and Political Philosophy Group

The Ethics and Political Philosophy Group meets periodically throughout the year to discuss topics in value theory and related fields, including meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, moral psychology, practical reason, agency, and identity.