Philosophy & Public Affairs 51 (2023), 1

It is a striking fact about us that we care deeply about what could have happened, but didn't. In this paper, I explore the significance of this concern for theorizing about the goodness of a life. To get a feel for the issues that we will be examining, consider the case of Sophie Germain, a French mathematician of the early nineteenth century. She was born to a wealthy Parisian family and enjoyed a life rich in meaningful relationships, sophisticated pleasures, and important achievements. However, much of her exceptional academic talent was wasted because of the obstacles she faced as a woman. Early on, her parents tried to hinder her youthful fascination with mathematics. Later, she was barred from attending the École Polytechnique and the meetings of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and both her manuscripts and published work were regularly ignored by her contemporaries.