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Life, Death, and Meaning
Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions
David Benatar (Author) , Margaret A. Boden (Contributor) , Peter Caldwell (Contributor) , Fred Feldman (Contributor) , John Martin Fischer (Contributor) , Richard Hare (Contributor) ,
- Textbook
Life, Death, and Meaning
Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions
David Benatar (Author) , Margaret A. Boden (Contributor) , Peter Caldwell (Contributor) , Fred Feldman (Contributor) , John Martin Fischer (Contributor) , Richard Hare (Contributor) ,
- Textbook
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Description
Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better to be immortal? Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Since Life, Death, and Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions first appeared, David Benatar's distinctive anthology designed to introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy has won a devoted following among users in a variety of upper-level and even introductory courses.
While many philosophers in the "continental tradition"-those known as "existentialists"-have engaged these issues at length and often with great popular appeal, English-speaking philosophers have had relatively little to say on these important questions. Yet, the methodology they bring to philosophical questions can, and occasionally has, been applied usefully to "existential" questions. This volume draws together a representative sample of primarily English-speaking philosophers' reflections on life's big questions, divided into six sections, covering (1) the meaning of life, (2) creating people, (3) death, (4) suicide, (5) immortality, and (6) optimism and pessimism. These key readings are supplemented with helpful introductions, study questions, and suggestions for further reading, making the material accessible and interesting for students. In short, the book provides a singular introduction to the way that philosophy has dealt with the big questions of life that we are all tempted to ask.
Table of Contents
Chapter 2 Introduction
Part 3 Chapter 1: The Meaning of Life
Chapter 4 The Meaning of Life
Chapter 5 The Absurd
Chapter 6 'Nothing Matters'
Chapter 7 Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
Chapter 8 Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
Chapter 9 The Meanings of Life
Part 10 Chapter 2: Creating People
Chapter 11 Whether Causing Someone to Exist Can Benefit This Person
Chapter 12 Why Not Let Life Become Extinct?
Chapter 13 On Becoming Extinct
Chapter 14 Why it is Better Never to Come into Existence
Part 15 Chapter 3: Death
Chapter 16 How to be Dead and Not Care: A Defense of Epicurus
Chapter 17 The Misfortunes of the Dead
Chapter 18 Annihilation
Chapter 19 Some Puzzles About the Evil of Death
Chapter 20 Pre-Vital and Post-Mortem Non-Existence
Chapter 21 Why Death is not Bad for the One who Died
Part 22 Chapter 4: Suicide
Chapter 23 Of Suicide
Chapter 24 Suicide and Duty
Chapter 25 Suicide: A Qualified Defence
Part 26 Chapter 5: Immortality
Chapter 27 Immortality: A letter
Chapter 28 The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality
Chapter 29 Why Immortality is Not So Bad
Chapter 30 From here to eternity: Is it good to live forever?
Part 31 Chapter 6: Optimism and Pessimism
Chapter 32 Optimism
Chapter 33 The Consolations of Optimism
Chapter 34 The sad truth: optimism, pessimism, and pragmatism
Chapter 35 On the Suffering of the World
Product details
| Published | Jan 16 2010 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 2nd |
| Extent | 1 |
| ISBN | 9798216257714 |
| Imprint | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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