Population Policy
V36.0450/V83.0157
Spring 2011
Professor Ben Sachs—Program in Environmental Studies and Center for Bioethics
Office: 285 Mercer Street, Room 908
Office Hours: W 4:45-5:45 and by appointment
Office Phone: 212-992-8686
Email: sachs@nyu.edu
Goal for the course: What problems are caused by population expansion? Is there any way to
avert these problems without trampling over people’s rights? This is the topic for the course.
We’ll begin by familiarizing ourselves with the debates among demographers and economists
over the causes and consequences of population expansion. Next we will explore what a morally
acceptable goal for a population policy would look like, before turning to the question of who
would be wronged if we fail to achieve that goal. The rest of the course will be more practical.
First we will look at specific problems that might be cause by population expansion. Then we’ll
determine whether individuals are obligated to do anything to help avert those problems and
whether the state may use its coercive force in order to prevent them.
Course Materials: None. All readings will be available on the course website, except the ones
marked with a *, which can be found on the internet using a Google search.
Grading
Assignment
Participation
First Paper
Second Paper
Total
Points Possible
50
100
100
250
Minimum points to receive grade…A: 232…A-:225…B+:219…B:207…B-:200…C+:194…
C:182…C-:175…D+: 166…D:150
Participation: You will be required to turn in QCCs. This stands for Question, Comment or
Criticism, and the subject for each QCC is the assigned reading. A QCC should be about one
paragraph long and must be posted on the course website the by noon the day of class in order for
you to get credit. At various points during the class I might read aloud a QCC in order to
generate some discussion. If I don’t read your QCC during class, I will return it to you the next
class with a short response. Each QCC is worth 2 points. There are two ways to earn your
participation grade.
Method #1: Turn in a QCC before every class, for a total of 25.
Method #2: Turn in one QCC per week, for a total of 13. Earn the other half of your participation
grade by being a contributor to classroom discussion, which involves offering interesting
comments and questions. To move forward classroom discussion, comments and questions
should build off of the assigned reading(s) and off of whatever comments and questions have
been raised already. My judgment of how much you’re contributing to classroom discussion is
subjective, of course, but I am always happy to tell you where you stand so that you can adjust
accordingly.
Essays: The basic idea for an essay is that you make and argue for a point that moves forward the
discussion of one of the topics we’ve covered. I’ll provide more detailed guidance when the time
comes. I encourage you to speak with me ahead of time about your topic and what you have to
say about it.
Topics and Readings
Topic 1: The Science of Population Growth
Readings
 Marquis de Condorcet, selections from Sketch for a Historical Picture of the
Progress of the Human Mind
 Thomas Malthus, selections from An Essay on the Principle of Population
 Gary Becker, “An Economic Analysis of Fertility”
 Garrett Hardin, “Living on a Lifeboat”
 William Aiken, “The ‘Carrying Capacity’ Equivocation”
Topic 2: What should be the Aim of our Population Policy?
Readings
 Jan Narveson, “Utilitarianism and New Generations
 Derek Parfit, “Overpopulation and the Quality of Life”
 Thomas Hurka, “Value and Population Size”
 Paul Seabright, “Population Size and the Quality of Life: Creating Persons”
 David Benatar, “Why it is Better Never to Come into Existence”
 Jesper Ryberg, “The Repugnant Conclusion and Worthwhile Living”
Topic 3: Who can be Wronged by a Failure to Control Population?
Readings
 Thomas Schwartz, “Obligations to Posterity”
 David Heyd, “Procreation and Value: Can Ethics Deal with Futurity Problems?”
 Rahul Kumar, “Who Can be Wronged?”
Topic 4: Potential Problems of Overpopulation
 Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2, chap. 28
 Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, “The Population Bomb Revisited”
 Brian C. O’Neill, et al., “Global Demographic Trends and Future Carbon
Emissions”
 Ian Angus, “Dissecting those ‘Overpopulation’ Numbers: Part One – Population
Where?”*
Topic 5: The Ethics of Reproduction
Readings
 Dan Brock, selections from “Reproductive Freedom: Its Nature, Bases, and
Limits”
 James S. Fishkin, “The Limits of Intergenerational Justice”
 Onora O’Neill, “Begetting, Bearing, and Rearing”
 James P. Sterba, “Abortion, Distant Peoples, and Future Generations”
 Frank Miller and Rolf Sartorius, “Population Policy and Public Goods”
Topic 6: Policy Options
Readings
 Holmes Rolston III, “Feeding People Versus Saving Nature”
 Nancy Birdsall, “Government, Population, and Poverty: A Win-Win Tale”
 Dale Jamieson, “Climate Change and Global Environmental Justice”
 Brian Barry, “Sustainability and Intergenerational Justice”
 Arthur J. Dyck, “Procreative Rights and Population Policy”
 Michael D. Bayles, “Limits to a Right to Procreate”