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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy
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Better Never to Have Been - The Harm of Coming into Existence (Paperback)
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Better Never to Have Been - The Harm of Coming into Existence (Paperback)
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Most people believe that they were either benefited or at least not
harmed by being brought into existence. Thus, if they ever do
reflect on whether they should bring others into existence---rather
than having children without even thinking about whether they
should---they presume that they do them no harm. Better Never to
Have Been challenges these assumptions. David Benatar argues that
coming into existence is always a serious harm. Although the good
things in one's life make one's life go better than it otherwise
would have gone, one could not have been deprived by their absence
if one had not existed. Those who never exist cannot be deprived.
However, by coming into existence one does suffer quite serious
harms that could not have befallen one had one not come into
existence. Drawing on the relevant psychological literature, the
author shows that there are a number of well-documented features of
human psychology that explain why people systematically
overestimate the quality of their lives and why they are thus
resistant to the suggestion that they were seriously harmed by
being brought into existence. The author then argues for the
'anti-natal' view---that it is always wrong to have children---and
he shows that combining the anti-natal view with common pro-choice
views about foetal moral status yield a "pro-death" view about
abortion (at the earlier stages of gestation). Anti-natalism also
implies that it would be better if humanity became extinct.
Although counter-intuitive for many, that implication is defended,
not least by showing that it solves many conundrums of moral theory
about population.
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Tue, 7 Dec 2021 | Review
by: Travis R.
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