Rivka Weinberg

Rivka Weinberg is an American philosopher and a professor of philosophy at Scripps College. She specializes in bioethics, the ethics of procreation, and the metaphysics of birth, death, and existence. Weinberg attended Brooklyn College, earning a BA, and later obtained a PhD from the University of Michigan. In 2016, Weinberg published "The Risk of a Lifetime: How, When, and Why Procreation May Be Permissible." This book examines the ethics of human procreation, not focusing on common topics like abortion rights, but rather on the justification for creating a human being. She considers the value of life against the value of never existing, adopting a perspective that life is inherently risky. Drawing on Rawlsian justice and responding to the nonidentity problem, Weinberg posits that procreation is justified only if the parent intends to nurture the child and believes the risk imposed on the child would be rational to accept for the opportunity to procreate. She draws parallels to risk management with hazardous materials, likening human gametes to such materials. Her theory has implications for various ethical considerations. For instance, it suggests that individuals in situations with higher risks for offspring (e.g., heritable diseases, poverty) have a weaker case for procreation. It also implies that global warming should influence procreation decisions. Furthermore, Weinberg argues that sperm and egg donors bear parental responsibility for the resulting children, an idea she has explored in academic journals. Weinberg has also contributed to public discourse through articles on moral culpability, particularly concerning individual complicity in morally compromising situations, which have been discussed in The Washington Post, Fast Company, and Business Insider.