PHLB05H3 Lecture 8: PHLB05 – Lecture 8 & 9
Document Summary
Better never to have been: the harm of coming into existence benatar wont test aspects of the reading that we don"t cover. Better never to have been: thesis 1: coming into existence is a serious harm, thesis 2: given 1, people should not have children non-existence vs. existence can that be harmful. Puzzle: how can existence ever harm a person, a challenge: the non-identity problem" having be brought into existence can be a harm. Non-identity problem: suppose a prospective parent is deciding whether or not to have a child. If they have the child now, the future person will have a serious genetic illness. However, if the parent undergoes 6 months of treatment, they can avoid passing on this illness to their future child. Non-identity problem: the children in the aforementioned cases re not made worse off by being brought into existence: harm involves making a person worse off compared to some other state they could have been in.
