Human extinction from a Thomist perspective

Abstract

“Existential risks” are risks that threaten the destruction of humanity’s long-term potential: risks ofnuclear wars, pandemics, supervolcano eruptions, and so on. On standard utilitarianism, it seems, thereduction of such risks should be a key global priority today. Many effective altruists agree with thisverdict. But how should the importance of these risks be assessed on a Christian moral theory? Inthis paper, I begin to answer this question – taking Thomas Aquinas as a reference, and the risks ofanthropogenic extinction as an example. I’ll suggest that on a Thomist framework, driving ourselvesextinct would constitute a complete failure to fulfil our God-given nature, a radical form of hubris, anda loss of cosmological significance. So the reduction of such risks seems vital for Thomists, or Christiansmore broadly. Indeed, I end with the thought that these considerations are not parochially Christian, orindeed specifically religious: everyone with a similar view of mankind – as immensely valuable yet fallenand fragile – should agree that existential risks are a pressing moral concern.