Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence By David Benatar

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Kindle Store,Kindle eBooks,Politics & Social Sciences Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence David Benatar

4,4

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Better Never to Have Been argues for a number of related, highly provocative, views: (1) Coming into existence is always a serious harm. (2) It is always wrong to have children. (3) It is wrong not to abort fetuses at the earlier stages of gestation. (4) It would be better if, as a result of there being no new people, humanity became extinct. These views may sound unbelievable--but anyone who reads Benatar will be obliged to take them seriously.

At this time of writing, The Mobi Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence has garnered 10 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Mobi is Good TO READ!

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I'm giving this book 5 stars mainly on the basis that books that deal with topics, or express opinions, that are very unusual, particularly in the field of human behavior, jolt us out of complacency and make us think. The main theme of the book that the author attempts to develop is his opinion that it is never a good thing, and is (nearly) always wrong, to create new sentient life because sentient lives created are always subject to what he believes is more bad than good, and that lives never created cannot be either subject to this bad or deprived in any way.I can agree -- since it is pretty obvious -- that lives never created cannot be deprived in any way. I can also agree that, in general, people really need to give more thought to whether they are suitable to be parents, financially, emotionally, and otherwise. I agree that human overpopulation is destroying this planet, I wrote a college thesis on this many years ago. I don't think it is very debatable that religions or other philosophies such as nationalism and special interests such as the corporate/business economy that push reproduction at any cost are doing a vast amount of harm and creating immeasurable suffering -- this has been a topic of widely read books.What I am not convinced of in reading this book is that the author has proven his point that procreation is always (or nearly always, as he vacillates on this), for everyone, morally and practically wrong. He uses pure philosophical reasoning and gyrations but does not stop to examine the most fundamental premises on which the arguments are based. One can sometimes, but not always and probably not even often, decide that a condition is "bad" or regrettable and have it apply universally. This is patently false collectivist and stereotypical thinking.While I agree (again it is pretty obvious) that people procreate based on their own needs and interests rather than the needs and interests of their progeny, selfish reasons for procreation can be very good reasons. For example, many people selfishly want children because they are lovers of life and people and want to give this love to a child. Many people have worked very hard on themselves and know they would be good role models for their kids. The author acknowledges this but insists adoption would better fulfill these needs. Again, that would depend on the individuals; people have the right to make their own reproductive decisions.The author has not brought in any opinions from expert figures in human psychology and this is a serious weakness. For only one example, Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Behavioral Psychology, I think would be rolling in his grave were he to read this book. Beck showed us how we are prone to cognitive or thinking errors of the pessimistic sort and how we tend to let such premises slide by in much of our thinking.Added to this, we are all individuals -- what affects us and how it affects us is subject to tremendous variation. Shinzen Young's The Science of Enlightenment and others that back up the evidence he presents on meditation have agreed that a serious meditation practice can eventually lead to a condition of happiness, independent of conditions, and this includes most conditions. While this is not an excuse for irresponsible reproduction, which I vehemently oppose, it still tends to show that extreme statements such as that all sentient life on balance entails mainly suffering can be rationally challenged. The author's premise may on balance be correct -- for reasons additional to what he gives -- but by the same token it may be false -- there is really no way to know.By making us think more deeply about reproduction, this book is worthwhile but I see as a detraction that the author overstated the case.Lastly, let's assume for the sake of argument that the author's premise is correct ... it will never make a difference anyway. Evolution of sentient life from basic chemicals on this planet is a paradigm for the entire universe, which is unlimited in space and time. There are an infinite number of planets "out there" with conditions suitable for evolution of life; this has always been and will always be going on, as life is created and destroyed. How soon life will be destroyed on earth is unknown, but what is certain is that earth is an infinitesimal speck in an endless universe in which nature dictates that life is born and evolves to become more complex and sentient over time, be that good, bad, or indifferent.Bottom line, a worthwhile read from an author who is courageous enough to express a highly unorthodox opinion.

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