ABSTRACT
The anti-natalist argues not about the detail of the amounts, but insists that any painful episode is enough to warrant the downbeat stance. The anti-natalist’s claim isn’t that it would be better for other creatures, or for the environment, or for the universe, or in itself if we didn’t exist. Utilitarians are happy to trade pleasures and pains across different lives. Many of us think it wrong to subject one human being to pain in order to prevent pain in others. The distinction between having the same animal persisting through time, and replacing that animal with another is, in this context, far from profound.
