A very common but untested assumption is that potential children would consent to be exposed to the harms of existence in order to experience its benefits. And so, would-be parents might appeal to the following view: Procreation is all-things-considered permissible, as it is morally acceptable for one to knowingly harm an unconsenting patient if one has good reasons for assuming her hypothetical consent—and procreators can indeed reasonably rely on some notion of hypothetical consent. I argue that this view is in (...) error. My argument appeals to a consent-based version of anti-natalism advanced by Seana Valentine Shiffrin. Anti-natalism is the view that it is always wrong to bring people into existence. While, like Shiffrin, I stop short of advocating a thoroughgoing anti-natalism, I nevertheless argue that procreators cannot appeal to hypothetical consent to justify exposing children to the harms of existence. I end by suggesting a more promising route by which this justification might be achieved. (shrink)

In the first part of the paper, I discuss Benatar’s asymmetry argument for the claim that it would have been better for each of us to have never lived at all. In contrast to other commentators, I will argue that there is a way of interpreting the premises of his argument which makes all of them come out true. (This will require one departure from Benatar’s own presentation.) Once we see why the premises are true, we will, however, also realise (...) that the argument trades on an ambiguity that renders it invalid. In the second part of the paper, I consider whether discussions of how best to implement the anti-natalist conclusion crosses a moral barrier. I ask whether we can, independently of any philosophical argument, raise a legitimate moral objection to discussions of how best to end all life on earth. I discuss three views concerning the role of our pre-philosophical views and attitudes in philosophical debates: the external view according to which these attitudes set moral barriers to the content of philosophical debate whilst themselves standing outside this debate; the internal view according to which our intuitions are part of the material for philosophical reflection and play no further role; and the intermediate view according to which our pre-reflective views and attitudes, without themselves requiring philosophical validation, can play an important role when it comes to issues regarding the implementation of philosophical claims. (shrink)

Benatar’s central argument for antinatalism develops an asymmetry between the pain and pleasure in a potential life. I am going to present an alternative route to the antinatalist conclusion. I argue that duties require victims and that as a result there is no duty to create the pleasures contained within a prospective life but a duty not to create any of its sufferings. My argument can supplement Benatar’s, but it also enjoys some advantages: it achieves a better fit with our (...) intuitions; it does not require us to acknowledge that life is a harm, or that a world devoid of life is a good thing; and it is easy to see why it does not have any pro-mortalist implications. (shrink)

Wer das eigene Leben für sinnlos hält, wird oft auch die Ansicht haben, dass es besser wäre, nicht geboren worden zu sein. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob Äußerungen wie „Ich wäre lieber nicht geboren“ sinnvoll sind und ob sie sich begründen lassen. Im einleitenden Teil wird gezeigt, dass diese Äußerungen entgegen einer von manchen Philosophen vertretenen Ansicht nicht sprachwidrig sind. Im zweiten Teil wird David Benatars „Asymmetrieargument“ in modifizierter Form verteidigt. Benatar bringt dieses Argument zur Verteidigung der These vor, (...) dass es stets einen Schaden darstellt, in die Existenz zu gelangen. Es wird gezeigt, wie sich das Argument unter Beachtung der Differenz zwischen „jemanden eines Gutes berauben“ und „jemandem ein Gut vorenthalten“ verteidigen lässt. Im dritten Teil werden die praktischen Implikationen des modifizierten Asymmetrieargumentes ausbuchstabiert. Es führt nicht zu einem Anti-Natalismus, wohl aber zur These, dass es rational ist, die eigene Existenz zu bedauern. (shrink)