On the social and personal value of existence
Fleurbaey, M. & Voorhoeve, A.
(2015).
On the social and personal value of existence.
In
Hirose, I. & Reisner, A.
(Eds.),
Weighing and Reasoning: Themes from the Philosophy of John Broome
(pp. 95-109).
Oxford University Press.
(2015).
On the social and personal value of existence.
In
Hirose, I. & Reisner, A.
(Eds.),
Weighing and Reasoning: Themes from the Philosophy of John Broome
(pp. 95-109).
Oxford University Press.
If a potential person would have a good life if he were to come into existence, can we coherently regard his coming into existence as better for him than his never coming into existence? And can we regard the situation in which he never comes into existence as worse for him? In this paper, we argue that both questions should be answered affirmatively. We also explain where prominent arguments to differing conclusions go wrong. Finally, we explore the relevance of our answers to issues in population ethics.