Is it better to exist than never to have existed? Bad things happen to all of us. It is an inescapable characteristic of humanity. When we are born, we are born to suffer. What if we were never born? What if we had never been introduced to this world of inevitable difficulties? Would we be better off? Such thoughts are nourished by David Benatar in his essay "Why it is better never to enter into existence" (Benatar, 1997) - which, rather disturbingly for his readers, argues that it is rational to think that it is no better to exist than in an attempt to understand this titular question, I will embark on an in-depth analysis of Benatar's argument, as I believe it offers one of the strongest arguments against birth. I will begin by laying out his argument, then identifying two key assumptions, and finally attempting to show that Benatar's argument is only strong to the extent that one adopts a hedonistic approach to life, that is- that is, judging pleasure (and the absence of pain) as the greatest value in life. Benatar's asymmetry argument In “Why it is better never to come into existence” (Benatar, 1997), David Benatar argues that by bringing a person into existence, we harm them, and therefore bring someone into existence. 'one is an error. This notion is based on a subtle distinction between the weighing of pain and pleasure in the life of an already existing being, and the weighing of pain and pleasure for a non-being. Benatar's belief is that when people argue that it is better to exist than to exist, never seen the light of day, they do so using arguments that appeal to pleasures that outweigh pain. For example, take the expression it is better to have loved and lost than to have n...... middle of paper ...... If on the other hand we adopt an approach similar to Nozick and later Nagel, that experience itself gives meaning and purpose to existence, we then come to the conclusion that existence is better than non-existence. Neither approach is flawless – and accepting either involves a certain degree of bite. So, in conclusion, I would like to say that it is better to exist than never to exist as long as one does not define one's life in terms of pain and pleasure, but with the capacity to have real experiences. I would rather exist than never exist because I value my ability to experience above any other value in my life - and if I had never come into existence, I would not have had this privilege. However, with this acceptance, I must also accept that I have a duty to bring people into existence..