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From: janw@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: Population control & Freedom
Message-ID: <117400069@inmet>
Date: Sun, 28-Sep-86 16:48:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: inmet.117400069
Posted: Sun Sep 28 16:48:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 08:06:46 EDT
References: <980@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
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Nf-ID: #R:cit-vax.Caltech.Edu:-98000:inmet:117400069:000:1635
Nf-From: inmet.UUCP!janw    Sep 28 16:48:00 1986


>[carnes@gargoyle.UUCP ]
>>But consider three parent pairs.  Mr. and Mrs. X think people are
>>crowding seals out, and refuse to have kids.  Mr. and Mrs. Y be-
>>lieve human kids are compatible with seals, and they have 4 boys and
>>a girl.  Mr. and Mrs. Z couldn't care less about seals, and have 4
>>girls and a boy.

>>In the name of *what* principle may the X's punish the Y's and the
>>Z's?  I don't see any.  
>>		Jan Wasilewsky

>I don't see the point of this confused and/or confusing comment, but
>here is a response.  

Well, giving a response before seeing the point is to risk
missing the point.  Strangely, having found this part of my article
confusing - you chose it as the only one to respond to...

>The X's may impose sanctions (or penalties) on the other  couples
>only if they have the legitimate political authority to do so and
>if the specific measures taken are not unjust.  The same is  true
>of  the  other couples. So it is a question of political philoso-
>phy: what constitutes legitimate authority and what is  just  and
>unjust?

Quite right: you repeat the question in more general terms, but
you don't answer it. It is as if I said: well, I don't see
how you can build a faster-than-light spaceship (implying
I don't believe you can) - and you'd answer that it is a matter
of physics and engineering.

*I am leaving aside here the question of _people_ needing other
species, which I answered separately.*

Are the X's to tell the Z's : the seal's right to have puppies
is, under our political philosophy, greater than your right
to have children? 

What political philosophy is that?

		Jan Wasilewsky