Re: If life is a benefit...

"Jonathan Ball" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Not so quick wrote:
>
> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >>On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 18:01:58 GMT, ipse dixit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >>
> >>If life is a benefit, then it's logically certain that
> >>no life [ie never existing at all] is a loss.
> >
> >
> > It occurs to me that life may not be a benefit.
>
> Life _per se_ cannot be a benefit:  there was no
> beneficiary prior to receipt of life.
>
> *Continued* life may be a benefit to someone who is
> already living, or perhaps it wouldn't be.  You need
> more information.
>
> > Life as a human, to make it simpler than it could
> > be, can be very painful. Some diseases and other
> > situations could make life a torturous experience
> > which may actually cause a being to lose consciousness
> > through shock. It seems that the choice of suicide,
> > leaving aside the fear of death as a deterrent, might
> > not be possible to all people, ... there remains the
> > fact that most people do not chose death over
> > life, so that unless the instinct for survival is so
> > strong that in causes  people to live in a state that
> > is a loss, then you would assume that since people
> > live and chose not to die, that life is inherently good,
> > something so obvious, that only logic could question
> > it. I'm glad that humor doesn't require logical
> > validation.
> >
> > I'm not lost but I am all-over-the-map.
> > : -)
> >
> >
>

I'm thinking in terms of to whom are we to
be grateful for life. I can't think of a reason
why my parents choice to have a child, or
perhaps their decision not to abort me, is
not a reason for gratitude.

Should I look at life not as a gift?