Items related to The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's...

The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions - Hardcover

 
9780190633813: The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Are our lives meaningful, or meaningless? Is our inevitable death a bad thing? Would immortality be an improvement? Would it be better, all things considered, to hasten our deaths by suicide? Many people ask these big questions -- and some people are plagued by them. Surprisingly, analytic philosophers have said relatively little about these important questions about the meaning of life. When they have tackled the big questions, they have tended, like popular writers, to offer comforting, optimistic answers. The Human Predicament invites readers to take a clear-eyed and unfettered view of the human condition.

David Benatar here offers a substantial, but not unmitigated, pessimism about the central questions of human existence. He argues that while our lives can have some meaning, we are ultimately the insignificant beings that we fear we might be. He maintains that the quality of life, although less bad for some than for others, leaves much to be desired in even the best cases. Worse, death is generally not a solution; in fact, it exacerbates rather than mitigates our cosmic meaninglessness. While it can release us from suffering, it imposes another cost - annihilation. This state of affairs has nuanced implications for how we should think about many things, including immortality and suicide, and how we should think about the possibility of deeper meaning in our lives. Ultimately, this thoughtful, provocative, and deeply candid treatment of life's big questions will interest anyone who has contemplated why we are here, and what the answer means for how we should live.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

David Benatar is Professor of Philosophy at University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence (2006) and Debating Procreation: Is it Wrong to Reproduce? (2015).
Review:

"The Human Predicament is worth reading for its often insightful discussion of the practical implications of accepting the broad pessimistic contention that all lives are bad when judged by any relevant measure." -- David Matheson, Carleton University, Canada, The Philosophical Quarterly


"What thinking person doesn't care about the (possible) meaning and quality of life, the nature and disvalue of death, and the option of suicide? David Benatar addresses these and other engaging and important topics in this well-argued book. The quality of the writing is about as high as any philosophy I can remember reading: short, clear sentences, with not a word wasted or misplaced. I do not see the human predicament as pessimistically as David Benatar does; but I found myself disagreeing less than I expected to -- for example, in his sensitive and probing discussion of suicide." --David DeGrazia, George Washington University


"David Benatar's new book, The Human Predicament, offers justifiably pessimistic analyses of some of the most interesting and important issues of human existence, including birth, suffering, death, and suicide. Benatar's analyses are as beautifully crafted and written as they are scholarly and thoughtful. The Human Predicament is a grand work of philosophy, but contains important insights for many of the social and life sciences, including psychology, sociology, biology, as well as to medicine and law. Not only will I recommend this book to my colleagues and graduate and undergraduate students, but I also will recommend it to my family and friends. The Human Predicament is a stunning achievement by a deeply compassionate man." -- Todd Shackelford, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychology, Oakland University


"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherOxford University Press
  • Publication date2017
  • ISBN 10 0190633816
  • ISBN 13 9780190633813
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages288
  • Rating

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Seller Image

Benatar, David
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 5
Seller:
BargainBookStores
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardback or Cased Book. Condition: New. The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions 0.7. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780190633813

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 28.69
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 5
Seller:
GreatBookPrices
(Columbia, MD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 28555755-n

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 29.10
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 17
Seller:
Lucky's Textbooks
(Dallas, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580025463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.76
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0190633816-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 33.13
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0190633816-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 33.14
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780190633813

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 33.15
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ergodebooks
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # DADAX0190633816

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 34.83
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
California Books
(Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780190633813

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 35.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 14
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # 0190633816

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 35.07
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Benatar, David
Published by Oxford University Press OUP (2017)
ISBN 10: 0190633816 ISBN 13: 9780190633813
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Books Puddle
(New York, NY, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 26375621626

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 31.98
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book