I’m not quite sure how to assign meaning to a normative counterfactual. Asserting “life is bad” is tantamount to declaring war on existence. Humans have massive, sprawling goal complexes, most of which seem to be predicated on existence. It seems extremely implausible that such goals could be consistent with a preference for non-existence. Consciously stroking yourself into a nihilistic fervor says more about the flexibility of your conscious perception than it does about the ultimate “goodness” of life (related Nesov comment).
It’s the “most basic principle ever” because:
It’s implicit in virtually all other normative principles.
Most people have no intention nor desire to declare war on everyone else.
But feel free to let me know if you those don’t apply to you, so I can file you away as “pure evil”.
What if other people dying is good for the survivors?
This is a narrower question that requires answering other questions like “which life?” and “how good?”. It can’t contradict the premise of life being good, it can only attempt to make it more precise.
I’m not quite sure how to assign meaning to a normative counterfactual. Asserting “life is bad” is tantamount to declaring war on existence. Humans have massive, sprawling goal complexes, most of which seem to be predicated on existence. It seems extremely implausible that such goals could be consistent with a preference for non-existence. Consciously stroking yourself into a nihilistic fervor says more about the flexibility of your conscious perception than it does about the ultimate “goodness” of life (related Nesov comment).
It’s the “most basic principle ever” because:
It’s implicit in virtually all other normative principles.
Most people have no intention nor desire to declare war on everyone else.
But feel free to let me know if you those don’t apply to you, so I can file you away as “pure evil”.
This is a narrower question that requires answering other questions like “which life?” and “how good?”. It can’t contradict the premise of life being good, it can only attempt to make it more precise.