Why Have Children?: The Ethical Debate

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Writing this book has been an exciting and difficult challenge, and many people as well as two institutions have provided input, support, and help. In 2006, Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, appointed me the tenth Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies for a year. The university offered the ideal environment to begin work on this project. Queen’s University, which awarded me a University Research Chair in 2005 and renewed it in 2010, has made it possible for me to continue writing while also teaching and supervising graduate students. To my friends and Queen’s University Philosophy Department colleagues Susan Babbitt, Jacqueline Davies, and Adèle Mercier, thank you for your support, understanding, and courage. Your political acuity, personal warmth, and wisdom have been invaluable. In the department’s main office, Marilyn Lavoie and Judy Vanhooser are always patient, kind, and knowledgeable sources of assistance. Unbeknownst to herself, Tabitha Bernard, a master’s student at Mount Saint Vincent University, played a big role in this book. Her brave and groundbreaking work on the ethics of planned unassisted childbirth reminded me that reproductive ethics is still a huge field with many unexplored questions. Thank you, Tabitha, for helping me to return to some of my academic origins. And I am delighted about the birth of your beautiful daughter, Arden Noor. I have also been inspired along the way by Tanya (Oja) Watson, who wrote her Queen’s master’s thesis on childlessness and the concept of woman, and by Queen’s PhD student Katherine (Kassy) Wayne, whose insights into bioethical issues always open my eyes to new ways of seeing. As a philosophy PhD student at Queen’s, Christopher Lowry, now at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, gave me detailed comments on xii Acknowledgments parts of the book. At two of the annual meetings of the Canadian Philosophical Association, Nicholas Dixon of Alma College, Michigan, and Wesley Cooper of the University of Alberta provided helpful and encouraging comments on early drafts of parts of the book.And the undergraduate students in my course Philosophy 204, “Life, Death, and Meaning,” in 2007, 2008, and 2009 prompted me to think carefully both about whether coming into existence is always harmful and about whether human extinction is inevitably a bad thing. Vishaal Patel, Matthew Kersten, and Rian Dewji, students in this course in 2007 and 2009, were especially insightful about the work of David Benatar. I am fortunate to have had the support of Clay Morgan of the MIT Press while I finished and revised this book. I also thank Deborah CantorAdams and Annie Barva for their excellent work in editing my manuscript. I am very grateful for the feedback I received from the three external reviewers of this manuscript: Dena Davis of Cleveland State University; Laura Purdy of Wells College, New York; and Nadia Sawicki of Loyola University, Chicago. I am indebted to them for the time they devoted to reading and responding to my work; each one helped me to rethink crucial parts of the book. Any remaining problems or weaknesses are, of course, entirely my responsibility. I am deeply appreciative of all that I am learning at Kingston’s Path Yoga. Thank you to Carolyn Johanson and all the instructors for teaching me that yoga is about strength and flexibility of the mind as well as of the body, that the yoga mat reflects what is going on in my practice and my life, and that I don’t have to push myself to the point of injury or exhaustion. I also thank my friends Kathy Silver and Bob Cadman. Bob is always game for a philosophical discussion, and his hospitality and kindness are heartwarming. Kathy, my Big Sister, wise woman, and dancing queen: I’m so glad you are in my life. Nancy Chapple has been an excellent writing companion (and “trophy guest”) at several stages in the writing of this book. Evan Alcock, my friend for fifty-something years, provides the best possible example of devotion to research, love of learning, and staying forever young. Gisela Braun and Dave Beavan have been supportive by taking me back to my high school roots. Acknowledgments xiii Tom Russell always reminds me that teaching is important and deserves all the time and attention I can give it. Ruth Dubin’s personal strength and her commitment to science and scholarship are inspiring. Beth Morrison shows...