PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: David Benatar, Bad Life
25 Aug 2016
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David benatar (1997), why it is better never to come into existence . We don"t do anything wrong by bringing people into existence if they"re going to have a decent. When we use birth control, or when we break up with someone, we are in effect preventing the existence of people who otherwise would have come into existence. Benatar is going to argue that the above assumptions are mistaken, that being brought into existence is not a benefit but always a harm . Think of all the bad things that happen to people: cancer, war, poverty etc. On the other hand, there are a lot of good things that happen to people: health, wealth, love, etc. For benatar this does not follow, a crucial difference between harms and benefits that makes harms always outweigh benefits o o. The absence of pain is good, even if there is no one to experience that absence.
