Life, Death, and Meaning

Edited by David Benatar - Contributions by Margaret A. Boden; Fred Feldman; John Martin Fischer; Richard Hare; David Hume; W.D Joske; Immanuel Kant; Frederick Kaufman; James Lenman; John Leslie; Steven Luper; Thomas Nagel; Robert Nozick; ChristineOverall;

Life, Death, and Meaning is designed to introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy.

PREFACEINTRODUCTIONChapter 1THE MEANING OF LIFERichard Taylor, The Meaning of LifeThomas Nagel, The AbsurdRichard Hare, 'Nothing Matters'W.D. Joske, Philosophy and the Meaning of LifeRobert Nozick, Philosophy and the Meaning of LifeDavid Schmidtz, The Meanings of LifeSusan Wolf, The Meanings of LivesChapter 2CREATING PEOPLEDerek Parfit, Whether Causing Someone to Exist Can Benefit This PersonJohn Leslie, Why Not Let Life Become Extinct?James Lenman, On Becoming ExtinctDavid Benatar, Why it is Better Never to Come into ExistenceChapter 3DEATHStephen E. Rosenbaum, How to be Dead and Not Care: A Defense of EpicurusGeorge Pitcher, The Misfortunes of the DeadSteven Luper, AnnihilationFred Feldman, Some Puzzles About the Evil of DeathFrederick Kaufman, Pre-Vital and Post-Mortem Non-ExistenceDavid B. Suits, Why Death is not Bad for the One who DiedChapter 4IMMORTALITYJames Lenman, Immortality: A letterBernard Williams, The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortalityJohn Martin Fischer, Why Immortality is Not So BadChristine Overall, From here to eternity: Is it good to live forever?Chapter 5SUICIDEDavid Hume, Of SuicideImmanuel Kant, Suicide and DutyDavid Benatar, Suicide: A Qualified DefenceChapter 6OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISMMargaret A. Boden, OptimismSamantha Vice, Optimism and MeaningBruce N. Waller, The sad truth: optimism, pessimism, and pragmatismArthur Schopenhauer, On the Suffering of the World