Better Never To Have Been PDF
Preview Better Never To Have Been
BETTER NEVER TO HAVE BEEN This page intentionally left blank BETTER NEVER TO HAVE BEEN TheHarmof ComingintoExistence DAVID BENATAR CLARENDONPRESS·OXFORD 1 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork DavidBenatar2006 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2006 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbyLaserwordsPrivateLimited,Chennai,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN0–19–929642–1 978–0–19–929642–2 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Tomyparents, eventhoughtheybroughtmeintoexistence; andtomybrothers, eachofwhoseexistence,althoughaharmtohim, isagreatbenefittotherestofus. This page intentionally left blank Preface Eachoneofuswasharmedbybeingbroughtintoexistence.That harmisnotnegligible,becausethequalityofeventhebestlivesis verybad—andconsiderablyworsethanmostpeoplerecognizeit tobe. Althoughit is obviously toolate toprevent our own exist- ence, it is not too late to prevent the existence of future possible people. Creating new people is thus morally problematic. In this bookIarguefortheseclaimsandshowwhytheusualresponsesto them—incredulity,ifnotindignation—aredefective. GiventhedeepresistancetotheviewsIshallbedefending,Ihave noexpectationthatthisbookoritsargumentswillhaveanyimpact on baby-making. Procreation will continue undeterred, causing a vast amount of harm. I have written this book, then, not under the illusion that it will make (much) difference to the number of peopletherewillbebutratherfromtheopinionthatwhatIhave tosayneedstobesaidwhetherornotitisaccepted. Many readers will be inclined to dismiss my arguments and will do so too hastily. When rejecting an unpopular view, it is extraordinarily easy to be overly confident in the force of one’s responses. This is partly because there is less felt need to justify one’s viewswhenone isdefending an orthodoxy. It is alsopartly because counter-responses from those critical of this orthodoxy, giventheirrarity,arehardertoanticipate. The argument I advance in this book has been enhanced as a result of a number of engaging critical responses to earlier ver- sions.AnonymousreviewersfortheAmericanPhilosophicalQuarterly offeredworthychallenges,forcingmetoimprovetheearliestver- sions.ThetwopapersIpublishedinthatjournalprovidedthebasis forChapterofthisbookandIamgratefulforpermissiontouse that earlier material. Those papers were considerably reworked anddevelopedpartlyasaresultofmanycommentsreceivedinthe interveningyearsandespeciallywhileIwaswritingthisbook.Iam gratefultotheUniversityofCapeTownforasabbaticalsemester in , during which four of the book’s chapters were written. I presented material from various chapters in a number of fora, including the Philosophy Department at the University of Cape Town,RhodesUniversityinGrahamstown,SouthAfrica,theSev- enthWorldCongressofBioethicsinSydney,Australia,andinthe UnitedStatesattheJeanBeerBlumenfeldCenterforEthicsatGeor- gia State University, the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, and the Philosophy Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I am grateful for the lively discussion ontheseoccasions.Fortheirhelpfulcommentsandsuggestions,I shouldliketothank,amongothers,AndyAltman,DanBrock,Bengt Bru¨lde,NickFotion,StephenNathanson,MartyPerlmutter,Robert Segall,DavidWeberman,BernhardWeiss,andKitWellman. Iam most grateful tothe two reviewers for Oxford University Press,DavidWassermanandDavidBoonin.Theygaveextensive commentsthathelpedmeanticipatethekindsofresponsescritical readersofthepublishedworkcouldhave.Ihaveattemptedtoraise and reply to these in revising the manuscript. I am sure that the book is much better for having considered their objections, even iftheyarenotconvincedbymyreplies.Iamacutelyaware,how- ever,thatthereisalwaysroomforimprovement andIonlywish thatIknewnow,ratherthanlater(ornever),whatimprovements couldbemade. Finally, I should like to thank my parents and brothers for all theydoandforalltheyare.Thisbookisdedicatedtothem. DB CapeTown 8December2005 ∼ Preface Contents . Introduction Whoissolucky? Anti-natalismandthepro-natalbias Outlineofthebook Areader’sguide . WhyComingintoExistenceIsAlwaysaHarm Cancomingintoexistenceeverbeaharm? Livesworthlivingandlivesnotworthliving Livesworthstartingandlivesworthcontinuing Whycomingintoexistenceisalwaysaharm Theasymmetryofpleasureandpain Comparingexistingwithneverexisting Otherasymmetries Againstnotregrettingone’sexistence . HowBadIsComingintoExistence? Whylife’squalityisnotthedifferencebetweenits goodanditsbad Whyself-assessmentsofone’slife’squalityare unreliable Threeviewsaboutthequalityoflife,andwhylife goesbadlyonallofthem Hedonistictheories Desire-fulfilmenttheories Objectivelisttheories Concludingcommentsaboutthethreeviews Aworldofsuffering
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