The Happiness Hypothesis

The reading of The Happiness Hypothesis was rather interesting. The most interesting part that I came across was when the author was talking about love making. The quote on page 21 of the reading is a question that is brought up quite a lot in ethical thinking. "Do you think it is acceptable for two consenting adults, who happen to be siblings, to make love?" Most people would say that, no, it is not acceptable. There are cases of genetic defects in children born from siblings who engaged in love making, and it is also socially unacceptable. No person likes to think of two siblings engaging in sexual intercourse. It is a social taboo to even think of it. When most people think of siblings who engage in sexual intercourse, it even tends to make them feel uncomfortable and awkward when it comes to the subject itself. In the reading, the author pointed out that there would be no offspring from the one-time occurance of love making because they used two forms of birth control. Was that still just as wrong as if they had gone into the experience expecting to create offspring? According to those asked, it was just as wrong. Even though they were unable to explain exactly why, it was just wrong. In most cultures, engaging in any type of sexual act with a sibling is considered to be socially wrong. It makes sense to most people that it is unacceptable and should not be participated in due to the social unacceptability of it. Personally, I think that it is not something that should come up regularly, but it is highly possible that sexual experiences between siblings does occur. It is normal to think that children brought up outside of the social taboo of certain cultures may attempt making love with each other even if they are siblings, but as adults, it might be a more rare occurence.

In ending, it is not neccessarily the worst thing that could happen for two consenting adults, who happen to be siblings, to make love with each other. As long as they were not planning on producing offspring and it was a one time occurance, it should not bring up too many problems. If it strengthened their relationship as siblings, that is actually a good thing. Sometimes it takes a strange and socially awkward occurance for siblings to become closer. Personally, I am inclined to shy away from the thought of siblings engaging in love making, but that is how I was brough up in society and raised from a child, so that is what is normal for me.