A philosopher argued it's always a harm to bring a new person into existence

David Benatar's case rests on an asymmetry: if you exist, both your pleasure and your pain are real, but if you never exist, the absence of pleasure harms no one, while the absence of pain is a genuine good with no one deprived of it. Since existing guarantees some suffering and nonexistence guarantees none, he concludes coming into existence is always a net harm — a conclusion nearly everyone who encounters it resists, which he argues is itself worth explaining.

— David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence — Oxford University Press, 2006
Go deeper: get the book →

One credited idea per card. No filler. Swipe the rest in Savvy.

Keep swiping — it's free Works right in your browser. No app store needed.

More Philosophy

All Philosophy cards →

Five ideas worth knowing, every week

The week's best cards and a puzzle, credited as always. Free, unsubscribe any time.