Best of All Is Never to Be Born | Antinatalism, a Complete Philosophy for Sleep

The oldest, strangest verdict in philosophy, that it might be better never to have been born.Long before the word existed, the wisest voices of the ancient world kept arriving at the same strange verdict, that it might be better never to have been born at all. This episode follows that thought across the centuries, from a captured satyr and the chorus of a Greek tragedy to the systematic pessimism of Schopenhauer, who made suffering the ground note of existence. From there it moves through the strangest corners of the tradition, a philosopher who imagined a God who chose to die, a Norwegian who called consciousness an evolutionary mistake, and a sleepless Romanian who turned despair into aphorism. At its center stands the modern argument that made the idea respectable again, David Benatar's claim that coming into existence is always a harm, with the questions of consent, suffering, and the harm we do woven around it. Along the way it gives the other side a full hearing, including its greatest adversary, the thinker who answered the ancient verdict by daring to love his fate.Please listen only in safe, restful contexts.SUPPORT THE SHOWVote on what comes next: https://www.sleepyphilosophyradio.com/voteBecoming a member keeps these episodes coming and unlocks the members only library of exclusive book summary episodes, a growing shelf of great books read closely and explained in plain language.Subscribe: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sleepyphilo/subscribe00:00:00 The Wisdom of Silenus00:11:46 A Word for the Position00:17:51 The Wheel of Rebirth00:26:10 The Best of All Possible Worlds00:32:41 The Philosopher of the Will00:44:05 Better Not to Be00:51:50 The God Who Died00:58:16 The Last Messiah01:07:36 The Trouble with Being Born01:14:19 The Asymmetry01:27:26 The Pollyanna in the Mind01:32:57 The Question No One Was Asked01:42:05 The Sum of Suffering01:53:37 The Harm We Do02:02:29 Consciousness, the Malignant Gift02:08:36 A Line of Poets02:17:31 The Man Who Said Yes02:28:48 Why Not Simply Die02:34:43 The Case Against02:43:18 The Silence We Choose02:50:03 The Compassion Core02:58:35 The Verdict ReturnsSleepy Philosophy Radio makes longform, carefully researched philosophy written as a serious essay and paced for rest.All research and writing is done personally. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.