The Harms of Existence: A Review of David Benatar, The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions

According to Benatar, however, this bias does not eliminate or extract one from the human predicament. To persuade the reader of this point, Benatar argues that persistent and pervasive struggles with hunger, disease, mental anguish, pain, and social problems (to name a few) are evidence of the depl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary Psychological Science 2018, Vol.4 (3), p.347-349
Main Authors: James, Rachel M., Shackelford, Todd K.
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Life
Mortality
Optimism
Personality and Social Psychology
Pessimism
Psychology
Quality of life
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Summary:According to Benatar, however, this bias does not eliminate or extract one from the human predicament. To persuade the reader of this point, Benatar argues that persistent and pervasive struggles with hunger, disease, mental anguish, pain, and social problems (to name a few) are evidence of the deplorable quality of life. According to Benatar, life is bad, but so is death. [...]risk aversion research suggests that our ancestors are those individuals that avoided risky situations or behaviors and, therefore, were more likely to survive to reproduce than conspecifics who took more risks and perhaps were less fearful or anxious about death (Levy 2015). According to de Catanzaro, when opportunities for reproduction are dismal, it may ancestrally have benefitted genetic kin if that individual suicided.
ISSN:2198-9885
2198-9885
DOI:10.1007/s40806-018-0146-8