The Abolition Of Suffering
On negative utilitarianism
My only claim to fame is that I am the younger brother of the philosopher David Pearce, not to be confused with the DJ or boxer with the same name, or you may get deafened or knocked out.
David was at the front of the queue when brains were being handed out, and sadly it was a day when in my usual fashion, I must have been having a lie-in or watching Netflix. So typically in games of “Scrabble” he used to consistently score 200 more than me, and used to read dictionaries, from A-Z like a novel. When most normal children wanted a Scalextric set or skateboard for their birthday, David had a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Needless to say, most of David’s philosophical writing whooshes over my head, but he has been very encouraging of my attempt to shift my career into writing, and very kindly agreed I could publish some of his work on Medium. His main body of work is on the subject of the abolition of suffering.
Which sounds like a good thing to me. At this point, on the subject of suffering, I will resist quips about being married to Mrs. Pearce, as that would be too unkind, but instead mention in passing the painful expense of my daughter’s pony, which has yet to succumb to my efforts with a voodoo doll. A mistaken investment if ever there was one, still pampered and…
