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If the two individuals aged for a significant part of their lives together, offsprings are not the only "harm".
Forming relationships with people that are different (as in, not relatives) helps avoid the bad parts of the family structure (the weird beliefs, opinions, behaviours, etc, that are taught within a family but are not accepted outside of it). Without that, you can end up with something that seems like "cultural inbreeding" where the weirdness persists and grows, until it reaches weird shit.
On a side note
Arguably a similar effect already happens in western countries thanks to xenophobia, and that's why you have people that care so much about transmitting their DNA and having their own biological kids as if it mattered. This is just the remnants of a deeply racist culture that believes that you need to preserve your family line, and with it, your DNA. If people were mixing more with other cultures and origins, this would seem much more absurd.
That is an argument from utility, which can most certainly be debated. What constitutes "bad"? That is a subjective interpretation.
And how do we define "weird shit"? Are "normal" relationships not "weird shit" and don't they lead to "weird shit"?
Well, it matters to them. Therefore, it matters. Doesn't it? It does to them.
Genuinely just poking at arguments here, I have no decided opinion either way.
It's more of a question of what is healthy psychologically. Staying to close to one group socially makes a sort of echo chamber, and that's always a problem.
And that's what I mean with "weird shit", things like racism are quite known to be increased in people that are not in contact with people of color for example. Echo chambers are generally bad, and I feel like this would create a very strong one ("us against the world" and whatnot)
DNA doesn't matter when it comes to kids if you don't have a background thought that is at least a bit problematic. It's not about what matters to them only, but also about what is morally wrong. This "DNA is everything" thing is extremely toxic
Should we ban homeschooling for this reason?
I mean, homeschooling can definitely cause that kind of issue.
The difference being that there are good sides to it too, while there are no good sides coming from incest, and trying to equate the two seems a bit far fetched and incoherent.
I’m not a bit fan of incest myself but this response doesn’t seem very satisfying. Just saying “there is nothing good about it” just seems very wishy-washy and hand-wavy
What can be good about it that a normal relationship cannot provide?
I can't imagine a single answer. Thus, "nothing good about it" seems accurate.
You could say that about any arbitrary type of relationship that you don’t like though.
With the difference being that incest brings a lot of problems that other relationships don't. Offsprings are one, I mentioned others, and I'm sure you could find more.
Relationships with big age gaps can also cause a lot of problems but I also wouldn’t want to make it illegal for, say, a 30 year old to date a 50 year old.
This is also a weird case, because the problem with age difference is maturity, which is not measurable as of now. A 30 years old dating a 50 years old is weird, but less than a 20 years old dating a 40 years old, and yet all of these also can vary based on individuals. And most people wouldn't see a problem with a 70 years old going with a 90 years old. That's why it's struggle to make well-defined laws about it.
For incest, once again, the problems are the norm, and then maybe you can find some exceptions. But why push it to be fine and allowed, when it doesn't bring anything, again? It's just opening for more issues to come, with no real benefit because incest is, in most cases rather than not, a problem.
And how do you prevent problems of offsprings, or of dominant position? Do you have to sterilize by force people in such relationships, after having them investigated to check that the relationship is actually consensual? Who would need to have sex with their relative so much that they would want to go through all this? That's why I'm saying that it just feels like a lot of trouble and problems, for nothing good.
This is a fair enough point, though still the only issue I can really see is the offspring thing. Would you feel better if it was a gay relationship? Say two sisters who were raised apart and then reconnected. I can literally see no issue with this besides the ick factor
Most of the other problems I mentioned are about being raised or growing together. So in your example, it probably would be mostly fine.
My main point is, what does it bring to try to make exceptions when the only exceptions that are not bad are very, very unlikely, and do not bring anything more than any other relationship would?
In your case, sure, the two sisters could get together, fine. But if they got together while knowing they are from the same family, it does raise a weird point, and if they did not know then fine. But how many offspring-free relationships between two people that didn't know they were related, exist? How many of those last? I cannot imagine such a big proportion, so what is the point of making an exception, that on the other hand will bring in a lot of problems and creepy behaviours trying to fit in it.