On the Social and Personal Value of Existence
On the Social and Personal Value of Existence. Marc Fleurbaey and Alex Voorhoeve. In Iwao Hirose and Andrew Reisner (ed.) Weighing and Reasoning: Themes from the Work of John Broome. Oxford University Press (2015): 95-109.
26 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2021
Date Written: April 22, 2014
Abstract
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.
Keywords: value of existence, population ethics, repugnant conclusion, person-affecting principle
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