Partiality, Identity, and Procreation

Abstract

According to commonsense morality, while we have reason to be concerned about the effects of our actions on anyone’s welfare, we also have reason to be partial towards the welfare of people to whom we have certain special relationships. I have, for example, more reason to make sure that my own child gets into a good school than that my neighbor’s child does. In this paper, I want to examine a kind of decision where the identity of people to whom we bear the special relationship depends on our action – in particular, the identity of our future children.