The Value of Sex in Procreative Reasons

We can learn about people’s conceptions of the ideal life by looking at what they imagine heaven to be like. Although voluptuous and gendered (and even sexist) accounts of the afterlife are familiar, more reflective views grow ever more distant from our actual human form of life—many Christians believe that in heaven there will be no marriage, sexual intercourse, or procreation. For those of us who think of the human frame not as the creation of a divine designer but as a contingent product of blind natural selection, it is simply a truism that our biology falls far short of perfection. If we were to engineer ex nihilo a new form of intelligent life that would be maximally flourishing, it would bear little resemblance to actual human beings. Nor is it likely to be divided into male and female, or to engage in sexual intercourse for reproductive purposes—sexual dimorphism was after all not selected because it reflects some deep intrinsic value, but for familiar evolutionary reasons. Awareness that we are mere products of blind chance, that there is no special necessity that intelligent beings would be divided into male and female, or walk on two legs, or enjoy music or dance, might be disturbing to some. But we mustn’t confuse pressure in the gut with a reductio.