Introduction
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who lived from 1770 to 1831, was not only a great German philosopher, but is acknowledged as the founder of an entire new school of philosophy in his own right. His was a philosophy of realism, as a few quotations from his works will show. The following are just a few examples:
"What is reasonable is real; that which is real is reasonable," Hegel said in Philosophy of Right, published in 1821. In Philosophy of History (1832), he offered: "To him who looks upon the world rationally, the world in its turn presents a rational aspect. The relation is mutual." In the same work, he went on: "It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in Providence, than to see their real import and value."
One may agree or disagree with any particular statement Hegel made, but any reader who dips even lightly into his work will be forced to admit that his thinking was far ahead of his time. Particularly if one is inclined to think of philosophers as ivory tower intellectuals, his writing comes as a surprise. It is so applicable to the world as it is today, and so completely modern in its style, that it would not be out of place in a contemporary newspaper.
Hegel also made some statements that remain controversial even how, but that are particularly relevant to today's problems. For instance: "The birth of children is the death of parents." A statement like that will inevitably shock some, but it is worth thinking about ....
Parenthood, of course, has always been virtually sacred and above criticism-until recently. In the past few months and years, we have heard a great deal from the advocates of ZPG-Zero Population Growth. These people are preaching the avoidance of the disasters of a real population explosion; they want to stabilize Earth's population exactly as it is now by limiting every pair of parents to two children. Their arguments seem to make a good deal of sense, but there are some strictly contemporary writers who believe, as Hegel undoubtedly would have, that they are not carrying their thinking to its ultimate logical consequence.
One such writer is Ellen Peck, author of the controversial book, The Baby Trap. In a recent article called "Obituary: Motherhood," published in Environmental Quality Magazine, she stated her case even more succinctly. "Applehood and mother pie are losing ground," she began-and went on from there.
"Once, there were good and valid reasons to have children," Mrs. Peck said. "Once, it was inevitable. Once, there was nothing else to do. Once human survival depended on human fertility. Once, the attainment of adulthood was marked by a desire to share one's values and delights in life with one's own children.
"But these things are no longer true. Today, contraception and sterilization can be chosen; there is a world outside the home for the women; our survival now rests with our ability to stop smothering the eco-system with our numbers; and parenthood, today, seems to us the very opposite of adulthood. (One spends twenty years in the discovery of life, the world. Why, on the very threshold of adulthood, retreat once more to toilet training and the ABC's?) And things that are of value in our lives-from the beauty of nature to the absence of fascism-disappear a bit with each new birth. Cement enshrouds the landscape; centralization and expanding government controls curtail a few more freedoms. (More people are less free-you may have noticed.)"
It is entirely possible to consider Mrs. Peck as a totally selfish person and ignore her. It is also possible to construct plausible arguments against what she is saying. She appears to be an extremist, and if she had her way and there were no more children at all, the world would soon end-quietly, but very effectively.