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Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence
David Benatar
Abstract
This book argues for a number of related, highly provocative views: (i) coming into existence is always a serious harm; (ii) procreation is always wrong; (iii) it is wrong not to abort foetuses at the earlier stages of gestation; and (iv) it would be better if, as a result of there being no new people, humanity became extinct. Although these conclusions are antagonistic to common and deeply held intuitions, the book argues that these intuitions are unreliable and thus cannot be used to refute it's grim-sounding conclusions.
Keywords: existence, harm, procreation, abortion, future people, extinction
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 | Print ISBN-13: 9780199296422 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 | DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296422.001.0001 |
