What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice

A symposium with Anastasia Berg (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

 With comments from Tom Whyman (Liverpool),  Maya Krishnan (All Souls), and Rachel Fraser (Oxford).

Whether or not to have children? It’s hard to ask a more loaded question. Money, health, career, love, embodiment, family, and climate change are all potentially at stake. Parenthood is also increasingly politicised — caught up in the fight over women’s reproductive rights, as well as debates over climate and AI doomerism. In What Are Children For? Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman critically probe the sources of our ambivalence, andambivalence and ask whether it is still possible to affirm the value of human life in a time of uncertainty and conflict. In this symposium, Anastasia will discuss some of the arguments of her new book, and respond to questions and critiques from three different commentators.

Fitzhugh Auditorium, Exeter College Cohen Quad, Walton Street

Monday 13 May 2024

3.15pm – 5.15pm