The Predicament That Wasn’t: A Reply to Benatar

Abstract In his recent book The Human Predicament, David Benatar describes the human condition as a tragic predicament, and the upshot is that we ought to refrain from having children and adopt an attitude of pragmatic pessimism. I argue that both his pessimism and anti-natalism are not warranted, and I focus on two features: the lack of meaning in our lives and their poor quality. I begin by arguing that the lack of cosmic meaning does not present a serious reason for regret, and the presence of terrestrial meaning, especially when viewed from the more limited perspectives, is undervalued by Benatar. Then I challenge Benatar’s claims about the quality of our lives, arguing that our resilience to adversity is not something we ought to regret, but to celebrate.