#148 David Benatar: Anti-Natalism, Abortion, Suicide, Euthanasia, Environmentalism

------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/the-dissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT Dr. David Benatar is professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. He is best known for his advocacy of antinatalism in his book Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence, in which he argues that coming into existence is a serious harm, regardless of the feelings of the existing being once brought into existence, and that, as a consequence, it is always morally wrong to create more sentient beings. He’s also the author of books like The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys (2012), and The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017). In this episode, we focus on anti-natalism, and its several ramifications. We tackle the asymmetry argument from different angles. We talk about how we are predisposed to evaluate life, and if we can do it objectively. We establish a distinction between a life worth continuing and a life worth starting. And we also go through some specific topics like life for nonhuman animals, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and environmentalism.  Time Links: 01:01 The anti-natalist position 01:54 The asymmetry argument, or comparing nonexistence to existence in terms of pain and pleasure               05:55 The biases we have to evaluate life       14:22 The is-ought problem    17:32 How to properly determine if life is worth living     22:33 Life worth continuing vs life worth starting       27:40 Does progress make a difference?      36:37 About growth through adversity 39:02 What about nonhuman animals?  41:58 Abortion 43:52 Suicide 50:31 Euthanasia 53:50 The various ways to measure pain and pleasure in life 55:51 Anti-natalism and environmentalism 58:54 More people = more innovation? 1:01:13 Follow Dr. Benatar’s work!    -- Follow Dr. Benatar’s work: Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/yd8nrobn Better Never to Have Been: https://tinyurl.com/hwceorl The Human Predicament: https://tinyurl.com/y8kmdck2 Other books: https://tinyurl.com/yb6k7r4m Twitter handle: @d_benatar -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, SCIMED, PER HELGE HAAKSTD LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, RUI BELEZA, MIGUEL ESTRADA, ANTÓNIO CUNHA, CHANTEL GELINAS, JIM FRANK, JERRY MULLER, FRANCIS FORD, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BRIAN RIVERA, ADRIANO ANDRADE, YEVHEN BODRENKO, SERGIU CODREANU, ADAM BJERRE, JUSTIN