Promortalism
Pro-mortalism or promortalism is the philosophical value judgment that it is better for any mortal living being to die as soon as possible.[1][2][3] A common motivation for pro-mortalism is to prevent the perceived future suffering of oneself and/or other sentient beings.[4]
Philosophy
Pro-mortalism is related to antinatalism, negative utilitarianism, and efilism.[5][6]
Jiwoon Hwang argued that the hedonistic interpretation of David Benatar's axiological asymmetry of harms and benefits entails promortalism — the view that it is always preferable to cease to exist than to continue to live. Hwang argues that the absence of pleasure is not bad in the following cases: for the one who never exists, for the one who exists, and for the one who ceased to exist. By "bad", we mean that it's not worse than the presence of pleasure for the one who exists. This is consistent with Benatar's statement that the presence of pleasure for the existing person is not an advantage over the absence of pleasure for the never existing and vice versa.[7]
Violence
On May 17, 2025, a car bombing occurred at a reproductive center in Palm Springs, California, leaving one person near the vehicle, later confirmed to be the perpetrator, dead.[8][9] The attack was carried out by Guy Edward Bartkus, who was motivated by pro-mortalism. [10][11] [12] [13]
References
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Look up promortalism, antinatalism, or efilism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- ↑ Sullivan-Bissett, Ema (2022-03-01). "Better to Return Whence We Came". The Journal of Value Inquiry. 56 (1): 85–100. doi:10.1007/s10790-022-09888-4. ISSN 1573-0492.
- ↑ Mcgregor, R.; Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2012). "Better No Longer to Be". South African Journal of Philosophy. 31 (1): 55–68. doi:10.1080/02580136.2012.10751767.
- ↑ Horie, Sachio (2021). "The Ethic of "CODE"—To Pro Mortalism and Antisurvivalism from Antinatalism". In Stephanidis, Constantine; Antona, Margherita; Ntoa, Stavroula. HCI International 2021 - Late Breaking Posters. Communications in Computer and Information Science. 1498. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 31–36. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-90176-9_5. ISBN 978-3-030-90176-9. Search this book on
- ↑ Keane, Isabel (18 May 2025). "What is pro-mortalism, the belief held by Guy Bartkus?". The Independent. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
- ↑ Metz 2012, pp. 1–2: "Negative utilitarianism is well-known for entailing anti-natalism as well as pro-mortalism, the view that it is often prudent for individuals to kill themselves and often right for them to kill others, even without their consent. It pretty clearly has these implications if one can kill oneself or others painlessly, but probably does so even if there would be terror beforehand; for there would be terror regardless of when death comes, and if death were to come sooner rather than later, then additional bads that would have been expected in the course of a life would be nipped in the bud."
- ↑ Belshaw 2012, p. 118: "Negative utilitarianism can be plucked from the shelf, but there is no good reason to suppose it true. And were it true, it would take us too far, generating not only anti-natalism but straightaway also its pro-mortalist neighbour."
- ↑ Hwang, Jiwoon (2017). "Why it is Always Better to Cease to Exist". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3184600.
- ↑ Blankstein, Andrew; Cohen, Rebecca (May 17, 2025). "1 dead, 4 hurt in Palm Springs car explosion deemed 'act of terrorism' by FBI". NBC News. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
- ↑ Fahy, Claire; Levien, Simon J. (May 17, 2025). "Palm Springs Bombing Kills 1 and Damages Fertility Clinic, Mayor Says". New York Times.
- ↑ Baxter, Holly (May 19, 2025). "Was 'efilism' the extreme ideology behind the Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing?". The Independent.
- ↑ Richardson, Valerie (May 21, 2025). "Palm Springs bombing suspect believed to be driven by anti-birth ideology". The Washington Times.
- ↑ "Bomber of California fertility clinic identified, described himself as pro-mortalist". BNO News. May 17, 2025. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
- ↑ Anglin, Robert (2025-05-18). "What we know about Guy Bartkus, suspect in Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing". The Desert Sun. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
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