“Never to have been born is best But if we must see the light, the next best Is quickly returning whence we came. When youth departs, with all its follies, Who does not stagger under evils? Who escapes them? Sophocles'… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“There’s such a thing as chronic pain, but there’s no such thing as chronic pleasure. ... For an existing person, the presence of bad… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
Creating new people, by having babies, is so much a part of human life that it is rarely thought even to require a justification.… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“There is one kind of exception: those who believe that the world is too horrible a place into which to bring children. Such people… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“For instance, since none of us lives until age 240, people tend not to think that failing to reach that age makes one’s life… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
On my view there is no net benefit to coming into existence and thus coming into existence is never worth its costs. — David Benatar Copy Share Image
Coming into existence is always bad for those who come into existence. In other words, although we may not be able to say of… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“There is a further (non-distributional) consideration that can affect an assessment of a life’s quality. Arguably, once a life reaches a certain threshold of… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
I am under no illusions. My position, no matter how clearly stated, is likely to be misunderstood. — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Life's big questions are big in the sense that they are momentuous. However, contrary to appearances, they are not big in the sense of… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Bringing people into existence as well as failing to bring people into existence can be regretted. However, only bringing people into existence can be… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Now it might be suggested that cloning is sometimes worse because, where it is done for the sake of the person cloned, it is… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Those who do indeed decide to have a child might do so for any number of reasons, but among these reasons cannot be the… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Parents with dependents are somehow thought to count for more. If, for example, there is some scarce resource—a donor kidney perhaps—and of the two… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“Finally, the optimist’s impatience with or condemnation of pessimism often has a smug macho tone to it (although males have no monopoly of it).… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
“I shall not assess arguments and evidence for competing views about when human extinction will occur. We know it will occur, and this fact… — David Benatar Copy Share Image
