History of Antinatalism

Book excerpt: This collective monography deals with the history of antinatalism. It aims to supplement Ken Coates՚ monography Anti-Natalism: Rejectionist Philosophy from Buddhism to Benatar. Therefore, after rejecting David Benatars՚ analytical approach, it starts with the intellectual history of antinatalism in antiquity and the Middle Ages in general, with a focus on neglected tenets of the asymmetry and quality arguments in Aristotle's Eudemus and in early Christianity. Then it carries on with modern age up to the present, with a focus on the rarely identified precursors of the asymmetry argument, followed by analyses of some antinatalistic elements in Vladimir Solovyov, and of the almost unknown antinatalistic author bearing the pen name Kurnig. Finally, it returns to the contemporary antinatalism, this time focused on its implications in sexual ethics and in the ethics of suicide.