Better Never to Have Been

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence is a 2006 book by South African philosopher David Benatar, in which he argues for antinatalism, the philosophical position that existing is always a loss. Benatar defends this view primarily through two arguments: the asymmetry argument, which states that the absence of pain is good even if it is not experienced, while the absence of pleasure is not bad, unless one loses it. That is, it is bad in the sense that the loss of pleasure applies to those who already exist, and the absence of pleasure is not bad for those who do not yet exist. and the argument from philosophical pessimism, which asserts that due to cognitive bias, humans systematically underestimate the negative aspects of life.

The book expands on ideas first presented in Benatar's 1997 paper "Why It Is Better Never to Come into Existence", and has received both praise and criticism from philosophers and ethicists. It has also influenced cultural works, most notably the television series True Detective.