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Quote by David Benatar

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

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Author

David Benatar
David Benatar

David Benatar (born December 8, 1966) is a South African philosopher and professor at the University of Cape Town, known for his controversial anti-natalist views. He argues that bringing a child into existence is morally wrong because life inevitably involves suffering, and non-existence avoids all harm. His seminal work, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006), sparked global debate on the ethics of procreation. Benatar's research covers applied ethics, bioethics, and metaphysics, and he is a prominent figure in population ethics. Despite criticism for pessimism, he maintains his arguments are based on logical reasoning. He also authored The Second Sexism (2012) and Human Well-Being and Human Life (2018). more

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“when you face disappointments and trials in life, your response dictates the character that will be created in you as a result.”

“It may happen, however, that he falls into despair just for the fact that he has opened his heart to another; it may be that he thinks it would have been infinitely preferable to maintain silence rather than have anyone privy to his secret. There are examples of introverts who are brought to despair precisely because they have acquired a confidant.”

“She was tranquil, but it was with the quietness of exhausted grief, not of resignation; and she looked back upon the past, and awaited the future, with a kind of out-breathed despair.”