The Human Predicament

The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
First edition
AuthorDavid Benatar
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPhilosophical pessimism
GenrePhilosophy
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date
June 7, 2017
Publication placeSouth Africa
Pages288
ISBN978-0190633813
OCLC974566754

The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions is a philosophy book by David Benatar, which makes a case for philosophical pessimism, published by Oxford University Press in 2017.[1][2] The book presents Benatar's views on a range of philosophical issues, arguing, among other topics, that having children is immoral, that death is bad despite much of human life being spent in suffering, and that suicide may be a morally justified action more often than is commonly assumed.[3][4] The Human Predicament has been favorably compared to The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti, the worldview presented in Ecclesiastes, and the works of philosopher Thomas Metzinger.[5][6]

  1. ^ Benatar, David (June 7, 2017). The human predicament : a candid guide to life's biggest questions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-063381-3. OCLC 974566754.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Matheson, David (2018-07-01). "The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions". The Philosophical Quarterly. 68 (272): 639–641. doi:10.1093/pq/pqx045. ISSN 0031-8094.
  4. ^ James, Rachel M.; Shackelford, Todd K. (March 2018). "The Harms of Existence: A Review of David Benatar, The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions". Evolutionary Psychological Science. 4 (3): 347–349. doi:10.1007/s40806-018-0146-8. ISSN 2198-9885. S2CID 158563884. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  5. ^ Rothman, Joshua (November 27, 2017). "The Case for Not Being Born". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).