Life, death, and meaning : key philosophical readings on the big questions

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Part I: The meaning of life. The meaning of life / Richard Taylor The absurd / Thomas Nagel "Nothing matters" / Richard Hare Philosophy and the meaning of life / W.D. Joske Philosophy and the meaning of life / Robert Nozick The meanings of life / David Schmidtz The meanings of lives / Susan Wolf -- Part II: Creating people. Whether causing someone to exist can benefit this person / Derek Parfit Why not let life become extinct? / John Leslie On becoming extinct / James Lenman Why it is better never to come into existence / David Benatar -- Part III: Death. How to be dead and not care : a defense of Epicurus / Stephen E. Rosenbaum The misfortunes of the dead / George Pitcher Annihilation / Steven Luper Some puzzles about the evil of death / Fred Feldman Pre-vital and post-mortem non-existence / Frederik Kaufman Why death is not bad for the one who died / David B. Suits -- Part IV: Immortality. Immortality : a letter / James Lenman The Makropulos case : reflections on the tedium of immortality / Bernard Williams Why immortality is not so bad / John Martin Fischer "From here to eternity" : is it good to live forever? / Christine Overall -- Part V: Suicide. Of suicide / David Hume Suicide and duty Immanuel Kant Suicide : a qualified defense / David Benatar -- Part VI: Optimism and pessimism. Optimism / Margaret A. Boden Optimism and meaning / Samantha Vice The sad truth : optimism, pessimism, and pragmatism / Bruce N. Waller On the sufferings of the world / Arthur Schopenhauer.