It's a tricky question precisely *when* we should get attached to actual people. It may be more plausible to track, not *time* (or whether the future person has come into existence yet), but just *whether the action has happened* (such that the future person's existence is now settled). I'm not sure.
It's a tricky question precisely *when* we should get attached to actual people. It may be more plausible to track, not *time* (or whether the future person has come into existence yet), but just *whether the action has happened* (such that the future person's existence is now settled). I'm not sure.
But the basic phenomenon of *attachment* seems familiar enough, and not odd. Just consider a parent considering the counterfactual prospect of having had a slightly happier child in place of their actual child. In advance, they should of course prefer a happier child over a less happy one, all else equal. But at least once they know & love their actual child, it would seem messed up for them to wish that a slightly happier alternative person had existed instead.
So, if we are to accommodate the phenomenon of (warranted) attachment, we must be open to the possibility of shifting normative standards pre- vs post-attachment.
It's a tricky question precisely *when* we should get attached to actual people. It may be more plausible to track, not *time* (or whether the future person has come into existence yet), but just *whether the action has happened* (such that the future person's existence is now settled). I'm not sure.
But the basic phenomenon of *attachment* seems familiar enough, and not odd. Just consider a parent considering the counterfactual prospect of having had a slightly happier child in place of their actual child. In advance, they should of course prefer a happier child over a less happy one, all else equal. But at least once they know & love their actual child, it would seem messed up for them to wish that a slightly happier alternative person had existed instead.
So, if we are to accommodate the phenomenon of (warranted) attachment, we must be open to the possibility of shifting normative standards pre- vs post-attachment.