The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions

Are Our Lives Meaningful, Or Meaningless? Is Our Inevitable Death A Bad Thing? Would Immortaility Be An Improvement? Would It Be Better, All Things Considered, To Hasten Our Death By Suicide? Many People Ask These Big Questions - And Some People Are Plagued By Them. Surprisingly, Analytic Philosophers Have Said Relatively Little About These Important Questions About The Meaning Of Life. When They Have Tackled The Big Questions, They Have Tended, Like Popular Writers, To Offer Comforting, Optimistic Answers. [this Book] Invites Readers To Take A Clear-eyed And Unfettered View Of The Human Condition.--book Jacket. Preface -- A Reader's Guide -- 1. Introduction (life's Big Questions ; Pessimism And Optimism ; The Human Predicament And The Animal Predicament ; To Tell Or Not To Tell?) -- 2. Meaning (introduction ; Understanding The Question ; The (somewhat) Good News [meaning Sub Specie Hominis ; Meaning Sub Specie Hominis Communitatis ; Meaning Sub Specie Humanitatis] ; Conclusion) -- 3. Meaninglessness (the Bad News ; The Theistic Gambit ; Nature's 'purposes' ; Scarce Value ; Discounting The Cosmic Perspective; Focusing On Terrestrial Meaning ; Sour Grapes And Varieties Of Meaning Worth Wanting ; Conclusion) -- 4. Quality (the Meaning And Quality Of Life ; Why People's Judgment About The Quality Of Their Lives Are Unreliable ; The Poor Quality Of Human Life ; Why Is There More Bad Than Good? ; Secular Optimistic Theodicies ; Conclusion) 5. Death (introduction ; Is Death Bad? [hedonism (and Its Discontents) ; The Deprivation Account ; Annihilation ; When Is Death Bad For The Person Who Dies? ; The Symmetry Argument ; Taking Epicureans Seriously?] ; How Bad Are Different Deaths? ; Living In The Shadow Of Death) -- 6. Immortality (delusons And Fanatsies Of Immortality ; Sour Grapes ; Conclusion) -- 7. Suicide (introduction ; Responding To Common Arguments Against Suicide [suicide As Murder ; Suicide As Irrational ; Suicide As Unnatural ; Suicide As Cowardice ; Interests Of Others ; The Finality Of Death] ; Broadening The Case For Suicide [a More Accurate Assessment Of Life's Quality ; Does Meaninglessness In Life Warrant Suicide? ; Restoring An Individual's Control] ; Conclusion) -- 8. Conclusion (the Human Predicament In A Nutshell ; Pessimism And Optimism (again) ; Responding To The Human Predicament) David Benatar. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.