One of the most original and radical topics of philosophical reflection of all time is undoubtedly antinatalism. Although the topic has received growing interest only since the beginning of the 21st century, achieving its first formal systematization thanks to the work of David Benatar, antinatalism is actually an ancient philosophical position. A historical reconstruction of antinatalism has led some scholars to distinguish between ancient “proto-antinatalism” and “Antinatalism” in the contemporary sense, two perspectives that would address the problem of birth differently. While the former interprets the issue of birth as birth negation, the latter insists more on the moral argument of the ethical legitimacy of procreation, and therefore as procreation negation. Based on the famous myth of Silenus and Midas, this essay focuses on the concept of birth negation and attempts to show how the ancient world developed a form of antinatalism that differs from the contemporary one in that it proposed a metaphysical, rather than moral, reflection on birth. This reflection therefore privileges the dialectic between Being and Non-Being rather than the question of procreation. I will attempt to interpret Silenus’ response as a description of the human condition based on a metaphysics of the limit, and antinatalism as a denial of this limit. I will argue for the primacy of this metaphysical investigation of birth over any moral analysis, as the latter represents only a practical development of the former.
La sabiduria de Sileno. El antinatalismo como problema metafisico
Sarah Dierna
2026-01-01
Abstract
One of the most original and radical topics of philosophical reflection of all time is undoubtedly antinatalism. Although the topic has received growing interest only since the beginning of the 21st century, achieving its first formal systematization thanks to the work of David Benatar, antinatalism is actually an ancient philosophical position. A historical reconstruction of antinatalism has led some scholars to distinguish between ancient “proto-antinatalism” and “Antinatalism” in the contemporary sense, two perspectives that would address the problem of birth differently. While the former interprets the issue of birth as birth negation, the latter insists more on the moral argument of the ethical legitimacy of procreation, and therefore as procreation negation. Based on the famous myth of Silenus and Midas, this essay focuses on the concept of birth negation and attempts to show how the ancient world developed a form of antinatalism that differs from the contemporary one in that it proposed a metaphysical, rather than moral, reflection on birth. This reflection therefore privileges the dialectic between Being and Non-Being rather than the question of procreation. I will attempt to interpret Silenus’ response as a description of the human condition based on a metaphysics of the limit, and antinatalism as a denial of this limit. I will argue for the primacy of this metaphysical investigation of birth over any moral analysis, as the latter represents only a practical development of the former.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
