Why it is better never to come into existence

Author: David Benatar
Date: July 1997
From: American Philosophical Quarterly(Vol. 34, Issue 3)
Publisher: North American Philosophical Association
Document Type: Article
Length: 6,180 words
Abstract :

The absence of pain is good, while the absence of pleasure is not necessarily bad. This asymmetry between pain and pleasure suggests that non-existence is preferable to coming into existence. There is always some pain associated with existence, whereas non-existence involves an absence of pleasure that is not bad, because there is no existing person who is being deprived. Having children is therefore not morally preferable, although it is not necessarily immoral.
Source Citation
Benatar, David. "Why it is better never to come into existence." American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 3, July 1997, pp. 345+. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19916781/AONE?u=gale&sid=bookmark-AONE. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
  

Gale Document Number: GALE|A19916781