No—and I wasn’t meaning to say that less beings with higher welfare is always better. Like I said, I don’t think the common sense view will be philosophically satisfying.
But a second common sense view is: if there are some beings whose existence depends on harming others, then them not coming into existence is preferable.
I expect you can find some counter-example to that, but I think most people will believe this in most situations (and certainly those involving parasites).
No—and I wasn’t meaning to say that less beings with higher welfare is always better. Like I said, I don’t think the common sense view will be philosophically satisfying.
But a second common sense view is: if there are some beings whose existence depends on harming others, then them not coming into existence is preferable.
I expect you can find some counter-example to that, but I think most people will believe this in most situations (and certainly those involving parasites).