David Benatar

David Benatar (born December 8, 1966 ) is a contemporary philosopher and professor at the University of Cape Town , South Africa.

Life

David Benatar is the son of Solomon Benatar who founded the Bioethics Center at the University of Cape Town. Benatar heads the Philosophy Department at the University of Cape Town. He is reluctant to provide information about his private life in order to forestall attempts to explain his philosophical arguments through aspects of his personality.

Work area

His main areas of work are ethics , medical ethics and metaphysics . In his main work Better Never to Have Been Benatar establishes a decidedly anti-natalist position. It is always morally reprehensible to have children, since the beginning of existence is a detriment for everyone. Without exception, every life is so bad that it is always better not to exist.

Benatar's convictions are based on an asymmetry of suffering and happiness that he has analyzed in detail . He arrives at an asymmetry by analyzing happiness and suffering first from the point of view of their being given (symmetry relationship ), then from the point of view of their non-being (asymmetry):

1. The giving of suffering is bad, the giving of happiness is good.
2. The non-giving of suffering is good, while the non-giving of happiness is not bad (except when someone is deprived of happiness).

In view of this asymmetry, it is always advisable not to father an additional person. The unfortunate experiences that he would inevitably have, make his production an act that can be judged morally as bad, while the failure to father a person (who, according to Benatar, would also have experiences of happiness) is not bad: the lack of happiness is not happiness, of which someone is robbed.

Against the background of these considerations, Benatar comes to the conviction that the abortion of non-sentient embryos or fetuses is not only morally permissible, but always required, as it prevents inevitably suffering people from being born. The experiences of sadness that every person goes through without exception cannot be compensated for by experiences of happiness.

Benatar further supports his anti-natalism by arguing that we all tend to view our lives as happier and better than it really is. Reason for this distortion are evolutionarily related biological and psychological mechanisms.

Benatar's law of non-descendants would result in a deserted earth. Benatar credits his ethics with the fact that their goal is achievable: while the increase in happiness never comes to an end, the prevention and reduction of suffering ultimately lead to the extinction of humanity. Although Benatar argues for the extinction of mankind through lack of descendants, he sees himself as a philanthropist and not a misanthrope . In his main work he also takes the suffering of animals into account. He speaks out against the creation of animals for the purpose of their use, especially slaughter, and regrets that the animals would continue to suffer after the disappearance of all humans from the earth.

Fonts

• Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-19-929642-1 .
• The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys. John Wiley & Sons, Malden 2012, ISBN 978-0-470-67446-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ University of Cape Town Philosophy Department Staff: David Benatar ( English ) Retrieved January 20, 2019.
2. ^ Joshua Rothman: The Case for Not Being Born. In: The New Yorker. Condé Nast Verlag (USA), November 27, 2017, accessed June 6, 2019 . 

Web links

• Karim Akerma: Review of Benatar: Better Never to Have Been .
• Christopher Belshaw: Review of Benatar: Better Never to Have Been on Notre Dame - Philosophical Reviews .
• Jean Kazez: Review of Benatar: Better Never to Have Been .