About this episode
In this episode I speak with philosopher and author David Benatar. David is best known for advancing the position of philanthropic antinatalism, which holds that coming into existence is a serious harm for sentient beings. Central to his view is the asymmetry argument, which maintains that the absence of pain is good even if no one benefits from it, while the absence of pleasure is not bad unless someone is deprived of it.
David also argues that our lives are significantly worse than we tend to realize, due in part to a pervasive positivity bias. He supports this claim with a range of empirical studies, including work on optimism bias, affective forecasting, and rosy retrospection. Relevant studies include:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3204264/
https://2024.sci-hub.se/1554/00562a7485ff9ae6371024daf5890ed0/mitchell1997.pdf
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-01001-001
https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Affective-forecasting.pdf
At the same time, David’s antinatalist position is challenged by other philosophers, as well as by research showing that global well-being has been improving across many important metrics. Numerous studies also suggest that most people self-report being happy and that subjective well-being often remains surprisingly high even under adverse circumstances. A counter-perspective is that humans are not blind to suffering but are instead highly adaptive, and capable of overcoming life’s challenges and minimizing the impact of hardship. Relevant studies include:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00298.x
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14717825/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1007027822521
https://cmc.marmot.org/Record/.b57484296
?View on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/FeLSED_nmJA
?For those interested in finding out more, David explores his position in depth and engages extensively with opposing arguments in his written work. Learn more about his work here:
https://humanities.uct.ac.za/department-philosophy/contacts/david-benatar https://tomwilk.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Still-Better-Never-to-Have-Been-Benata
