In 1984, the philosopher Derek Parfit introduced the concept of the “repugnant conclusion” in his book Reasons and Persons. This concept goes something like this: If the total collective amount of human happiness is all that matters, then putting more and more people on the planet — theoretically packing the place to a sweaty, crowded, miserable standing room only — would ultimately produce the greatest ethical good.

This prescription, of course, would make every individual life nasty, brutish, and short. No matter, the repugnant conclusion contends: Nine hundred billion tiny slivers of human happiness, after all, would fill the cosmic joy bucket much higher than a mere six billion medium-sized chunks. This idea is obviously absurd, which was Parfit’s point; the achievement of maximum happiness would cause maximum grief. Parfit was taking the philosophy of utilitarianism to its most extreme conclusion in order to make clear its fundamental weakness.

Read the article “What are People for?” on commentarymagazine.com.