Can one do otherwise when faced with the truth of meaninglessness? Existential nihilism is the stuff of horror stories - like a malicious spirit it'll haunt our thoughts until our deaths. Quite odd that the very reason for our angst - death/nonexistence - will also serve to liberate us from that angst. — TheMadFool
You must be careful with your analogies. Most anyone would agree with you that such an infliction is bad, but consider another supposed example of inflicting harm for the greater good: childhood discipline. Of course it's the right thing to harm your child either indirectly by not giving them the treats they desire, or even by direct discipline (timeout, scolding, etc.). This indicates that there is a difference between your uncharitable example and mine, that difference being that in your example, you are giving them sickness just to alleviate them from the sickness you gave them. It's a reversal. In the case of childhood discipline, your aren't putting them in time out just to take them out, rather you are putting them there to, well, discipline, shape up their behavior so that they may lead better, ethical lives in the future. — QuixoticAgnostic
This is the difference in perspective, and I think the unspoken assumption that anti-natalists have that life is suffering. To give birth is to give them the illness of life, only to reverse that illness as best we can. But I don't think life is inherently suffering. Yes, life is fundamentally about avoiding pain, but that doesn't mean life is pain. — QuixoticAgnostic
1. Is it possible that the good of existing pleasure outweighs the good of non-existent pain?
2. If life was inherently pleasurable, happy, and beneficial, with some pain and negativity, would you still agree that non-existence is better because there is no bad in non-existence, but still some bad in existence? — QuixoticAgnostic
Personally, I do not accept 1.
I do not like pain, and not liking pain keeps me safe. Therefore pain is good. — unenlightened
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