An Analysis of David Benatar’s Asymmetry Argument for Nihilism

Explain clearly and critically discuss in detail David Benatar’s “asymmetry argument” for the thesis (nihilism) that, for any person, non-existence is preferable to existence. Benatar’s argument is presented in chapter two of his book Better Never To Have Lived. This argument is discussed in the lecture slides Nihilism part 2, slides 19-31. It is also discussed in Reading 3, Jean Kazez’s review of Benatar’s book, which is posted on CuLearn. You will be able to find additional discussions of Benatar’s argument online (but you’re not required to do this). Benatar’s argument is discussed by philosopher Elizabeth Harmon in “Critical Study, David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been”, in the Journal Nous, 43: 4 (2009) 778-785. You can get this by Googling ‘Elizabeth Harmon Benatar”, or go to: https://www.princeton.edu/~eharman/Benatar.pdf

Your task in your discussion is first to explain Benater’s asymmetry argument clearly
and then assess in detail whether it is convincing