Earl Jake, Hickey Colin, Rieder Travis N
Bioethics. 2017 Oct;31(8):582-589. doi: 10.1111/bioe.12374.
Several philosophers have recently argued that policies aimed at reducing human fertility are a practical and morally justifiable way to mitigate the risk of dangerous climate change. There is a powerful objection to such "population engineering" proposals: even if drastic fertility reductions are needed to prevent dangerous climate change, implementing those reductions would wreak havoc on the global economy, which would seriously undermine international antipoverty efforts. In this article, we articulate this economic objection to population engineering and show how it fails. We argue, first, that the economic objection paints an inaccurate picture of the complicated relationship between demographic change and economic growth, and second, that any untoward economic effects of fertility reduction can be mitigated with additional policies. Specifically, we argue that supplementing fertility reduction with policies that facilitate the emigration of younger people from developing nations to developed nations could allow for both global reductions in GHG emissions and continued economic stability. Further, we show that moral arguments against such unprecedented increases in immigration are unsuccessful. We conclude that population engineering is a practical and morally justifiable tool for addressing the twin evils of climate change and global poverty.
最近,几位哲学家认为,旨在降低人类生育率的政策是减轻危险气候变化风险的一种切实可行且在道德上合理的方式。对这类“人口工程”提议存在一个有力的反对意见:即使需要大幅降低生育率以防止危险的气候变化,但实施这些降低措施将对全球经济造成严重破坏,这将严重削弱国际反贫困努力。在本文中,我们阐述了对人口工程的这一经济反对意见,并说明它为何不成立。我们首先认为,经济反对意见对人口结构变化与经济增长之间的复杂关系描绘得不准确,其次,生育率降低所带来的任何不良经济影响都可以通过额外的政策来缓解。具体而言,我们认为,通过实施有助于发展中国家年轻人移民到发达国家的政策来补充生育率降低措施,既可以实现全球温室气体排放的减少,又能保持经济的持续稳定。此外,我们表明,针对这种前所未有的移民增加的道德论证是不成功的。我们得出结论,人口工程是应对气候变化和全球贫困这两大祸害的一种切实可行且在道德上合理的工具。