One would be lost reading the following story without having a fundamental understanding of nihilism. The philosophical belief known as nihilism is quite bleak and pessimistic by nature. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) defines the concept:
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.
“Every belief, every considering something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world.” Those words are from the most famous nihilist philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche in The Will to Power, which was comprised of the various thoughts he kept in his notebook.
In layman’s terms nihilism is the belief that nothing matters, knowledge can never be proven, that objects may not exist in the actual world, and morality doesn’t exist. That is a basic summation of the basics without going into a longer diatribe about each individual branch.
Suing Parents For Birth You Say?
“I want to tell all Indian kids that they don’t owe their parents anything,” twenty-seven-year-old Raphael Samuel of India told The Print. Samuel is self describe ‘anti-natalist’ an ideology of individuals which are against childbirth. While they claim to have no ill-will towards children, they believe children shouldn’t be made to suffer on Earth.
“I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they had me for their joy and their pleasure,” Samuel would continue. “My life has been amazing, but I don’t see why I should put another life through the rigamarole of school and finding a career, especially when they didn’t ask to exist.”
Samuel is actually planning on taking his parents to court due to giving birth to him without his consent. However, in every instance of childbirth in human history, it’s unlikely a person who has yet to exist was able to give their consent on any matter — seeing as they were yet to develop a conscious.
“Other Indian people must know that it is an option not to have children, and to ask your parents for an explanation as to why they gave birth to you,” Samuel would add during the interview.
Is A Lawsuit Necessary?
The foundation of anti-natal movement is rooted in nihilism, despite this reality, the advocates make a few reasonable points. Individuals should not be forced to have children if they choose not to, whatever the logic behind that reasoning is irrelevant.
Unlike the infamous incel movement, Samuel and other anti-natalist theorists don’t seem to have a bigoted belief system. Nevertheless, Samuel takes the belief system too far by taking his parents to court and invoking consent.
India is currently undergoing ‘virginity testing’ reform, which is a practice which leads to women being sexually violated without giving their consent. Rational individuals are able to understand that it is impossible for anyone to grant their permission prior to being born.
His ‘birth by consent’ argument is far from sound and probably won’t hold up in the Indian court system.
Will The Anti-Natal Movement Spread?
Millions of individuals around the world will choose to not be parents, while the vast majority will never see the need of joining the anti-natal movement it does bring into question the purpose behind people like Samuel drawing attention to the ideology.
The economic situation of millennials and post-millennials will play a far larger role in their decision to become parents than someone who is displaying an extreme level of nihilism by suing his parents for being born.
