Is Having Children Wrong? | Philosophy Tube
Is it morally okay to have babies? Anti-natalists like philosopher David Benatar would argue that nonexistence avoids pain, unlike existence, but is he correct? What does that mean for reproductive rights?
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Recommended Reading:
David Benatar, “Better Never to Have Been” http://tinyurl.com/z9e2qj3
John Broome, “Should We Value Population?” in The Journal of Political Philosophy
Christine Overall, “Why Have Children?” http://tinyurl.com/z67sjtg
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@Scorned405
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Yes I’m very anti natal and think having children is very immoral and selfish
@spirofarmaku6772
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
People make life more difficult than it should be,i am proud on day i will leave this world without procreating
@patrickbeer1830
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I think there's value in pain. Not in the thing itself, of course, but…the sense of pride from surviving and overcoming, and the peace and purpose that comes from preventing it.
@LeBonkJordan
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
glad I noticed pretty early on that like, if nobody exists at all, we wouldn't call that a good thing just because there's nobody to experience pain. it'd be more of a neutral thing, and many people would probably consider it a negative, so at the very least, the Asymmetry of Pain and Pleasure needs some more actual demonstration
@matinaki1644
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I think most parents are actually pretty sadistic animals. They love that they have brought another creature to suffer and then eventually die, just like they are going to.
@oceanghost-t4o
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
the contrast between pleasure and pain is what makes life enjoyable. anyone who studies music theory knows that.
@WaveFunctionCollapsed
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Antinatalism is Trending in 2024 all over world
@ChiSportsNut18
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Depends. I believe in God and heaven, so I think there's something better than this. But if not, it's hard to say it's worth it.
@1angelsigh
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
ow the edge: the comment section
@YassenChapkanov
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Life isn't just about the one who experiences it. Most people are generally beneficial for their fellow men. By not creating more humans you are robbing existing people of potential social connections, scientific and technological advancements and economic productivity. Many great men of history willingly suffered for the good of their people and that means being born was morally right since we have consent for pain after the fact.
@nikibronson133
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Why do people think that they are entitled to only good things (I’m not free of this either) I think that’s a deeper question here that touches a human ego to even arrive at this sort of conclusion because it is ego to not have children or to have children. At the end of the day it’s all selfish because you’re benefiting yourself by whatever decision you’re making
@MeloraBeecroft
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I’m gonna go out on a limb and cite programming that overrides logic. We don’t necessarily have freewill to make the decision to have children. It’s very instinctive. If we were in nature with no birth control we couldn’t make this choice persay. The desire for sex in certain individuals is overwhelming. We have instincts to reproduce.
@mjfraser04
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Producing offspring is the only incurable STD. So we are all just one big walking talking STD.
@xLolitaxRagxDollx
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I'm trying to find the video you referenced at the end about father's rights and child support and I can't find it on your channel. What is the title, am I missing it?
@Y0Uanonymous
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I just watched this video and I am still an antinatalist, I consider every parent to be forever responsible for every wrong and every suffering of all of their progeny, likewise could be said for their rights and their pleasures but the bad thing is, parents don't think so, and they get depressed when they think so. I also noticed you'd be considered a handsome man back then, though I like your new state more.
@Silvermoonscorpion
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Pain is simply a teacher. Once you learn, you grow. Earth is school.
@janlaag
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Benatar, I thought I was alone until I've heard of you. I love you.
@Matthew_S-71
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
oooohhh… nope not having children or thinking of them… in this economy? NAH, That's not fair to them. Not a chance. i can't afford rent, let alone a kid. Not sure i agree with this pain = no birth ting tho. I just agree that my kids would likely have more pain than I had and therefore it doesn't make sense for me to have kids. Ill be a judge that tho. My situation is unique an not all people fit into my same situation at all. But if I won the lotto, had more time to be more community and family orientin, different story completely. But life hasn't been so nice to me and it's not my parents fault.. well it is.
@dropyourself
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Mao was right
@fernandofontenla8466
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
What about Julio Cabrera?
@christophersnedeker
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Cs Lewis responded to this idea in the problem of pain "better for me if I did not exist, in what sense, for me?"
@Zephulastar
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
What happened to the father's rights and child support video? I really wanted to watch that to see what you had to say.
@Orbitinbloom19018
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
All antinatalist arguments boil down to : “the society we have built does not profit me and i also believe it wont profit ANYONE thats alive. And i do not believe it ever will or there will be any change that the good will outweight the bad. Therefore i should have never existed” like what a slippery slope fallacy. The argument that “i should have never been created because i couldnt consent” is an idiotic one too. Should we never give help to disabled people who cant communicate either ? Because by that logic its a violation of their rights. Im happy antinatalist wont procreate we don’t need these people in our gene pool to build a better world.
@meatmachine449
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Of course life is so hard and their is too much suffering just to die in the end
@sentionaut6270
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
i agree with his opening statement.
@deepakanjna2722
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Very weird to say that "nonexistence can not be a state". Then where were we before our birth? Is not that nonexistence/non-being/nothingness. And if we know the features of non-existence and existence then what is the problem in comparing? How can these states not be compared?
@phantomknight1395
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
The funny thing is that you cannot debate antinatalism…
@elenacosta1040
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Genuine question: are anti-natalists also pro-abortionists (I’m very intentional in using this term rather than pro-choice)? Or can there be an anti-natalist who is also pro-life?
@LeGrandeCappucinna
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
I agree 👍
@rares1524
August 22, 2025 at 6:32 pm
its not pain damnit. its about being in a state of unbearibility. i hate when people say that they have been through a lot of pain and they arent bragging. there are two posibilities as to how the current you came to the conclusion that the pain you experienced is good.(1) you did suffer but for a short period of time and then you onli concentrated on the good outcome of that suffering and forgot how the suffering acctually felt in that moment.(2) altough comparade to the average human you went through a lot more pain, you never acctually broke your limit of bearibility so you might not even know what suffering feels like. Everyone is born with a different limit of bearibility and everyone can change where that limit stands throughout your life either by your own will or by being forced to do so without you actually accepting that certain way of training your limit of bearibility( wich is also immoral duuuhhh)
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