David Benatar is a South African philosopher, academic, and author.
15 Facts About David Benatar
1.
2.
David Benatar is best known for his advocacy of antinatalism in his book Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence, in which he argues that coming into existence is serious harm, regardless of the feelings of the existing being once brought into existence, and that, as a consequence, it is always morally wrong to create more sentient beings.
3.
David Benatar studied at the University of Cape Town, receiving a BSocSc and PhD.
4.
David Benatar is a professor of philosophy and director of the Bioethics Centre at the University of Cape Town.
5.
David Benatar is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Controversial Ideas.
6.
David Benatar argues there is a crucial asymmetry between the good and the bad things, such as pleasure and pain, which means it would be better for humans not to have been born:.
7.
David Benatar argues that bringing someone into existence generates both good and bad experiences, pain and pleasure, whereas not doing so generates neither pain nor pleasure.
8.
David Benatar raises four other related asymmetries that he considers quite plausible:.
9.
David Benatar raises the issue of whether humans inaccurately estimate the true quality of their lives, and has cited three psychological phenomena which he believes are responsible for this:.
10.
David Benatar is the author of a series of widely cited papers in medical ethics, including "Between Prophylaxis and Child Abuse" and "A Pain in the Fetus: Toward Ending Confusion about Fetal Pain".
11.
David Benatar's work has been published in such journals as Ethics, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, American Philosophical Quarterly, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Journal of Law and Religion and the British Medical Journal.
12.
David Benatar is vegan, and has taken part in debates on veganism.
13.
David Benatar is an atheist and has stated that he has no children of his own.
14.
David Benatar is ethnically Jewish and he has criticized the "regressive left" at institutions such as the University of Cape Town for creating an environment hostile to Jews.
15.
David Benatar has criticized South Africa for its increasing willingness to distance itself from liberal democracies and cozy up to autocracies, and in particular has criticized South Africans who sympathize with Hamas.