The Risk of a Lifetime: How, When, and Why Procreation May Be Permissible

Rivka Weinberg is Professor of Philosophy at Scripps College, Claremont. in philosophy from the University of Michigan. She received her PhD. As a philosopher and bioethicist, Weinberg specializes in ethical and metaphysical issues regarding birth and death.

She then proceeds to argue that, by virtue of our ownership and control of the hazardous material that is our gametes, we are parentally responsible for the risks we take with our gametes and for the persons that develop when we engage in activity that allows our gametes to unite with others and develop into persons. Yet because they leave us with lingering concerns, Weinberg argues that although procreation is permissible under certain conditions, it is not only a welfare risk but also a moral risk. It is often done thoughtlessly. Still, it is a risk that is often permissible for us to take and impose, given our high level of legitimate interest in procreativity. Arguments intending to show that procreation is impermissible because life is bad for people a

En route to this conclusion she argues against both those who think that procreation is (almost) always wrong and those who say that it is (almost) always permissible. Yet she thinks that it is a risk that is sometimes permissibly imposed. This is the question addressed in Rivka Weinberg's fascinating and carefully argued book. Written with flair and comic wit that is unusual in philosophy, The Risk of a Lifetime defends a range of bold and controversial judgments about the morality of procreation." -- Jeff McMahan, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford "Rivka Weinberg rightly recognizes that life is a risk rather than a gift. She writes