Tanaka Tomoki

In recent years, discussions about anti-natalism have been activated in various areas. This movement has been started with David Benatar’s controversial book, Better Never to Have Been: The Harms of Coming into Existence, published in 2006. The purpose of this article is to examine what the type of questions has been raised in the movement, especially into pedagogy. Firstly, we survey historical genealogy of anti-natalism, as well as Benatar’s discussion. History of anti-natalism has been long both in the East and the West, and Benatar adds new insights to the genealogy using the method of analytic philosophy. Secondly, we clarify social conditions under which anti-natalism has been widely accepted today. Particularly we focus on contemporary topic such as reproductive ethics, various gaps in society, environmental problems. Then, we suggest there are three issues within recent anti-natalism, and consider the questions brought by each issue.