Taboo aside, do you believe incest is morally wrong?

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It's a difficult question and a good question.

Personally I'd have to say 'I don't know'. I think this is the best answer I could give, as I think it depends on a case-by-case basis - and the culture one is raised within.



Hypothetical example that is difficult to answer: assuming I have a sister who was given up for adoption at birth who I then meet as an adult, and we form a sexual relationship. Or even just have casual sex once.

I wouldn't know if this was morally wrong or not. Or if it could strictly be classed as incest.


There are many other factors i.e. if one adult is sterile etc.


Difficult question.


I also don't understand evolution enough to know at which point individuals are classed as 'unrelated'. It could be said we're always having sex with ourselves - even when having sex with someone else.

I don't really care for it myself.

It's nothing something which delights me.

Here is the problem with incest in humans.

Humans have a lot of genetic errors. Most humans are carriers for at least two deleterious recessive mutations, meaning you are the carrier for some horrible condition, and if you produce offspring with another person with that same recessive mutation, and the child inherits the mutation from both of you, the child will have that horrible condition.

Because of this, humans...or maybe even pre-humans, who had a penchant for incest, produced less viable offspring, than those who had a natural aversion to incest, and those who had a natural aversion to incest, were able to out breed those who did not.

This is likely why close relative incest is almost universally taboo among humans today. We posses those genes that give us a natural aversion to it.

If you did breed with a sibling or other close relative, there is a good chance your offspring would have problems. Such is the case of a brother and sister in Germany, who were raised apart, fell in love after they met as adults, and began having sex with each other. They produced three or four children, all but one with conditions severe enough to be taken by the state, and German, a fairly progressive nation, sought to prosecute them for their actions.

There was also an incestuous family in Australia found living in the bush. They had been inbreeding for at least three generations and all suffered some form of mental retardation.

Other animals who do not have such corrupt DNA have no aversion to mating with a close relative. For example, gray squirrels.

Now even though close relative incest is taboo in most cultures, cousin incest is still fairly common. However in cultures that practice cousin incest, they usually try to follow a particular pattern, for example, parallel cousin or cross cousin marriage. They are also very concerned with any disease, disorder, or malformation. A person who is afflicted by one of these may not be considered suitable for marriage, and the siblings of someone who is afflicted by something may also be shunned for marriage.

However the safety measures these cultures try to take are not always sound. There are many case reports of recessive disorders afflicting many generations of the same family in those who practice cousin marriages.

Homosexuality, on the other hand, does not result in offspring that represent a weakening of the gene pool. I suppose you can argue that there should be nothing wrong with incest if it's consensual and the parties involved use contraception, but I would still be uneasy with this because I would be suspicious that the circumstances in which this mutual attraction between close family members arose might have been abusive or unhealthy in some manner.

It just bothers me. I don't like the feeling of it.

I'm talking about "true incest." Relations between cousins does not constitute "true incest."

yes, I contend that incest is objectively immoral. It is impure and it violates the principles of the Mea-noi (the principles which govern the moral the status of relational and sexual matters).

It is impure, distorts relations, and violates the principles of Mea-noi.

Morality and Objectivity cannot cohabit. There are no moral facts. There are only moral judgments....

I'm not sure I understand the argument for incestuous relationships being immoral. Whatever two consenting adults do is fine with me. However, if members of he same family tree produce web-footed offspring...well, that's another issue altogether.

Weird perhaps, maybe even creepy, but not intrinsically wrong.

The reason our ancient ancestors made laws against incest probably has little to do with genetics, and everything to with economics. For most of human history there was no state, no money currency, and no legally enforced contracts. Everything, including the division of labor, was based upon kinship. So if your group married into itself you would be failing at extending your web of alliances outward and recruiting new workers to help harvest crops, and hunt animals, and build huts. Though humans probably already also had an inborn aversion to incest as an animalistic instinct that probably was selected for in pre human times for genetic fitness that we inherited. That plus economics reinforced the cultural taboos our ancestors set up to ensure their economic survival.

Today we have taboos against things like sexual relations between teachers and students, and employers and employees which are incest-like because they mess up the contract based relationship.

Yet the very economic and power motive for exogomay can work the opposite way for royalty. In ancient Egyptian royalty brothers and sister would marry to keep the Pharoh's throne in the family. And the crowned heads of Europe could only marry other royalty from other countries. It started out as exogamy. But eventually the royal families of europe became their own little isolated group that became rather inbred (like a valley of isolated Appalachian hillbillies).

I don't consider it a moral or ethical issue. Certainly not if it exists between two consenting adults who perhaps aren't even engaging in penetrative sex, for all I know. However, as it exists within the animal kingdom, I do tend to regard it as one of nature's lesser answers to population control. (I say "lesser" because incest will obviously never be quite as effective as homosexuality or murder when it comes to curbing population growth.)

Humans have an innate repulsion to perceived incest. This is apparent by the fact that children who are raised as siblings, whether or not they are actually related, experience similar repulsion at the thought of sexual relationships with each other. In some cultures, the bride to be is sent off to live with her future husband and be raised by his family. They grow up together like siblings, and these marriages produce very low numbers of offspring because of the repulsion the two tend to feel for each other.

Incest among royalty is an exception, and the children often do not grow up together, but are raised in separate parts of the palace. There is also the delusion factor. A lot of times these dynasties traced their lineage to some type of god, and thoughtthemselves divine, and strove to keep their blood lines "pure".

Humans have an innate repulsion to perceived incest. This is apparent by the fact that children who are raised as siblings, whether or not they are actually related, experience similar repulsion at the thought of sexual relationships with each other. In some cultures, the bride to be is sent off to live with her future husband and be raised by his family. They grow up together like siblings, and these marriages produce very low numbers of offspring because of the repulsion the two tend to feel for each other.

Incest among royalty is an exception, and the children often do not grow up together, but are raised in separate parts of the palace. There is also the delusion factor. A lot of times these dynasties traced their lineage to some type of god, and thoughtthemselves divine, and strove to keep their blood lines "pure".

Yes that's a good point. In most cultures, the tradition of marriage is to unite two families, not just two people.

I do not believe it is morally wrong, but I do believe it could be a bad idea.

If their incestuous relationship causes them any problems, well, it was their decision. It's not anyone else's business as long as no one outside of the relationship is somehow harmed by it.