#1204 Sarah Dierna: The History and Theory of Antinatalism

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Jan 19, 2026

In this thought-provoking conversation, Sarah Dierna, a PhD candidate at the University of Catania, dives deep into the philosophy of antinatalism. She explores how metaphysics shapes ethics and examines the intrinsic suffering linked to consciousness. Dierna discusses the complexities of birth, the risks of parenthood, and critiques cultural acceptance of reproduction. The conversation touches on historical antinatalist themes from ancient Greece to modern thinkers, urging listeners to reassess the moral implications of bringing new life into a world rife with suffering.

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INSIGHT

Antinatalism As A Metaphysical Perspective

Antinatalism examines why not being born can be preferable by analyzing life, suffering and consciousness.
Sarah Dierna focuses the view primarily on human beings and their conscious experience of time and pain.

ANECDOTE

How Dierna Found Antinatalism

Sarah discovered antinatalism after reading David Benatar and a paper by her future supervisor in 2020.
Her interest shifted from euthanasia and suffering in disease to a broader metaphysical critique of birth.

INSIGHT

Metaphysics Before Reproductive Ethics

Dierna argues metaphysics should precede ethics to clarify what it means to be born and to suffer.
Understanding birth, life and death metaphysically grounds normative claims about procreation.

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Sarah Dierna is a PhD candidate in Interpretation Studies at the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania, where she collaborates with the chair of Theoretical Philosophy. She has published essays, articles, and reviews in various scholarly journals and collective volumes. In 2023, she edited the Italian translation of David Benatar's The Misanthropic Argument for Antinatalism for Oxford University Press. In 2025, she published the monograph È il nascere che non ci voleva. Storia e teoria dell'Antinatalismo (Mimesis).

In this episode, we focus on “È il nascere che non ci voleva”. We start by talking about how Sarah got interested in antinatalism. We then talk about the metaphysics of antinatalism, what it is to be born, whether people really want children, abortion, the harms of life, and the reality of death. We discuss why people reject antinatalism. We go through the history of antinatalism in the West and the East, including the Greeks, Christianity, and Buddhism. We discuss the strongest arguments in favor of antinatalism, whether death is always a harm, the ethics of parenthood, the strongest arguments against antinatalism, and extinctionism. Finally, we talk about how to approach people about antinatalism.

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