Philosophy Now Forum

Yes, his position is reminiscent of that of Schopenhauer’s. He also takes pain over countering Epicurus’ view of death (“death is nothing to us”), a view that I thought was a logical consequence of such a pessimistic opinion on life.

I totally agree. It seems that the value of a life is partly determined by your age and the likelihood to survive for a long period of time. People generally regret the death of a ninety-year old less than that of a fifteen-year old. That is true in spite of the fact that life is indeed something ba...

David Benatar in “Better never to have been” says that every life is not worth starting, because human lives are so ridden with harm, even the best ones, that is preferable not to be over coming into existence in a world of suffering. He then maintains that it is preferable not to procreate anyone, ...