The human predicament : a candid guide to life's biggest questions / David Benatar.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-255) and index.

Preface -- A reader's guide -- 1. Introduction (Life's big questions ; Pessimism and optimism ; The human predicament and the animal predicament ; To tell or not to tell?) -- 2. Meaning (Introduction ; Understanding the question ; The (somewhat) good news [Meaning sub specie hominis ; Meaning sub specie hominis communitatis ; Meaning sub specie humanitatis] ; Conclusion) -- 3. Meaninglessness (The bad news ; The theistic gambit ; Nature's 'purposes' ; Scarce value ; Discounting the cosmic perspective; Focusing on terrestrial meaning ; Sour grapes and varieties of meaning worth wanting ; Conclusion) -- 4. Quality (The meaning and quality of life ; Why people's judgment about the quality of their lives are unreliable ; The poor quality of human life ; Why is there more bad than good? ; Secular optimistic theodicies ; Conclusion). 5. Death (Introduction ; Is death bad? [Hedonism (and its discontents) ; The deprivation account ; Annihilation ; When is death bad for the person who dies? ; The symmetry argument ; Taking Epicureans seriously?] ; How bad are different deaths? ; Living in the shadow of death) -- 6. Immortality (Delusons and fanatsies of immortality ; Sour grapes ; Conclusion) -- 7. Suicide (Introduction ; Responding to common arguments against suicide [Suicide as murder ; Suicide as irrational ; Suicide as unnatural ; Suicide as cowardice ; Interests of others ; The finality of death] ; Broadening the case for suicide [A more accurate assessment of life's quality ; Does meaninglessness in life warrant suicide? ; Restoring an individual's control] ; Conclusion) -- 8. Conclusion (The human predicament in a nutshell ; Pessimism and optimism (again) ; Responding to the human predicament).