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The argument that coming into existence is always a harm can be summarized as follows: Both good and bad things happen only to those who exist. However, there is a crucial asymmetry between the good and the bad things. The absence of bad things, such as pain, is good even if there is nobody to enjoy that good, whereas the absence of good things, such as pleasure, is bad only if there is somebody who is deprived of these good things.

— David Benatar Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006)

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Philosophy

More quotes by David Benatar

Humans inflict untold suffering and death on many billions of animals every year, and the overwhelming majority of humans are heavily complicit.

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Humanity is a moral disaster. There would have been much less destruction had we never evolved. The fewer humans there are in the future, the less destruction there will still be.

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On my view there is no net benefit to coming into existence and thus coming into existence is never worth its costs.

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Those who consume animals not only harm those animals and endanger themselves, but they also threaten the well-being of other humans who currently or will later inhabit the planet.

It is curious that while good people go to great lengths to spare their children from suffering, few of them seem to notice that the one (and only) guaranteed way to prevent all the suffering of their children is not to bring those children into existence in the first place.

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: David Benatar (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.