Questions related to the belief that having children is morally wrong.
Questions tagged [antinatalism]
17 questions
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Is Benatar's "asymmetry of pleasure and pain" wrong?
I’ve some doubts regarding the epistyle of David Benatar's thought, the “asymmetry of pleasure and pain”. In Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence he writes that:
Both good and bad things happen only to those who exist.…
Francesco D'Isa
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Moral dilemma: wellbeing vs autonomy
Imagine you are pregnant, or the husband of a mother-to-be.
You live in a world which is brutal; relentlessly cruel.
Prior to birth, an offer is submitted to you:
"Bring your child into the horrible reality of this world, or abandon it to an…
Futilitarian
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What are the arguments against thesis of injustice of antinatalism?
If it’s morally wrong to condemn an innocent life to death, then it’s also morally wrong to procreate.Source
According to the author, it is unjust to procreate because, when we procreate we condemn an innocent to death.
Perhaps the premise that…
Dark Knight
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What is the best argument against the argument of consent in antinatalism?
Seana Shiffrin, Gerald Harrison, Julia Tanner and Asheel Singh argue that procreation is morally problematic because of the impossibility of obtaining consent from the human who will be brought into existence.
Shiffrin lists four factors that in…
Dark Knight
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4
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2 answers
Does antinatalism carry the seeds of its own destruction?
Antinatalists claim that it is immoral to procreate. For instance:
David Benatar argues there is an asymmetry between pleasure and pain,
which means it would be better for humans not to have been alive:
1) The presence of pain is bad;
2) The…
christo183
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Is Buddhism antinatalist?
I was listening to a discussion with David Benatar, and the point that Buddhism seems to be antinatalist was raised. It seems that people argue this both ways. Can Buddhism be said to be antinatalist? Or some strands but not others? If it is, what…
CriglCragl
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How can you soundly argue for antinatalism based on lack of consent?
Of the many arguments that bolster antinatalism, I'm contemplating only consent here:
Consent: The fact that life contains suffering might be tolerable under certain circumstances, i.e. if one could choose they want to live such a life. Actually,…
user8572
1
vote
1 answer
Is antinatalism against any kind of producing new minds (people)?
My argument is "it's better never to be a child". Being transhumanist, I assert it's better for new people to be produced adults right away, skipping the childhood part and believe it will be possible. But is this antinatalist position?
According to…
rus9384
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Why does Parfit judge implausible the impersonal average view?
Source: Benatar, David. Better Never to Have Been (2008 1 edn). pp. 171-172.
Although the impersonal average view also solves the nonidentity problem, it too cannot be Theory X, for it faces other
problems. To show why this is the case, Derek…
user8572
1
vote
1 answer
Why can a human never have a child for a potential child's sake?
Source: Benatar, David. Better Never to Have Been (2008 1 edn).
[p. 2 Top:] Creating new people, by having babies, is so much a part of
human life that it is rarely thought even to require a justification.
Indeed, most people do not even think…
user8572
0
votes
2 answers
Unbearable suffering exists. Therefore, is it worth to live?
The human being does not have full control over their life. In extreme cases, life can turn into pure happiness or unbearable suffering. Moreover, humans can end up in a situation, where escape from the current state is impossible (e.g. strong…
Konrad
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Is there a name for a philosophy that seeks to increase human suffering?
The vast, vast majority of ethic systems seek the minimization of human suffering as a good, considering it ethical or righteous in some way. Even anti-natalists believe this after a fashion, believing that preventing human beings from being born…
user2352714
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I saw the following "Baker's Fallacy" in a reddit thread but need help understanding it since I can't find any info on it
Context: I was explaining to a natalist how life/existence is objectively bad because it leads to suffering, pain and death, while nonexistence does not. All he kept saying was that I was committing "The Baker's Fallacy", which I still think it's…
Hierarchist
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How may there be more people than there could be for very long, if there'll never be more people than there could be?
Source: Benatar, David. Better Never to Have Been (2008 1 edn). pp. 165-166.
I don't understand the semantic distinction between 1 and 2 beneath.
OVERPOPULATION
At the time this is being written, there are about 6.3 billion people
alive.³ Very…
user8572
0
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0 answers
Where does Benatar defend in 'Better Never to Have Been' that (though logically possible) absence of pleasure can't be bad?
Source: Benatar, David. Better Never to Have Been (2008 1 edn). pp. 30 Bottom - 31 Top.
[...] it strikes me as true that
(3) the absence of pain is good, even if that good is not enjoyed
by anyone,
whereas
(4) the absence of pleasure…
user8572