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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The argument that having children is morally wrong is especially forceful in the context of Augustinian theology.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Within Augustinian theology, divine providence and sovereign election mean human reproductive choices cannot alter the fixed number of the elect.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If the set of souls destined for salvation or reprobation is determined entirely by divine decree antecedent to creation, then human procreative acts merely determine which predetermined souls are instantiated, not their eternal fate.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.An agent cannot be morally culpable for a harm they are metaphysically incapable of causing or preventing, so parents bear no responsibility for a reprobation decreed before their action.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Augustine explicitly held in 'The City of God' that membership in the elect constitutes an incomparably greater good than non-existence, meaning existence itself is a precondition for the supreme good of beatific union.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.An action that is a necessary condition for the highest possible good for at least some individuals cannot be straightforwardly condemned as morally wrong, even under uncertainty about outcomes.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The asymmetry argument underpinning antinatalist reasoning, as articulated by Benatar, presupposes a secular hedonic calculus that is conceptually incommensurable with Augustinian theological value theory.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Augustinian theology implies that any child potential parents might produce could be one of the reprobate whom God has hated from the beginning and has destined from the beginning for eternal torment in hell.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.For all any set of potential parents know, their child could be destined for eternal torment.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.