Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence

by David Benatar

I could accept that non-procreation should only be required when the children produced would lead very poor quality lives. This is because I have argued that all lives fall into this category. Those who think that a few lives do not fall into this category are not (much) better equipped to defend the objection that non-procreation is too demanding. This is because they must surely be moved by the fact that we cannot tell, when we deliberate about whether to bring somebody into existence, whether that life will be one of the few lives that is not of a very poor quality. It seems, then, that those who accept that coming into existence is a great harm and that there is a duty not to procreate in cases where the offspring would suffer great harm by being brought into existence must accept that a duty not to procreate is not too demanding.