Sarah DIERNA
Tutor: Alberto Giovanni BIUSO
Sarah Dierna is a PhD student in Humanities at the University of Catania where she works with the chair of Theoretical Philosophy. She has published many essays, papers and book reviews on Academic Journals. For Oxford University Press, in 2023, she translated in Italian The Misanthropic Argument for Antinatalism written by David Benatar. In 2025 she published È il nascere che non ci voleva. Storia e teoria dell’Antinatalismo (Mimesis).
Redefining Antinatalism: a metaphysic inquiry into Non-Existence and Necessity
My research aims to identify the historical and theoretical roots of Antinatalism, delving into the trouble of birth from an ontological-metaphysical and aesthetic perspective. This work focuses on the Continental philosophical tradition rather than the analytical and moral debate of contemporary philosophy (I have already analyzed the analitical debate and discussed it in a monograph published in 2025). By centering my analysis on a non-anthropocentric reflection on zoē and bios, my research will attempt to propose an ontology of non-existence that engages in a dialectical relationship with the concepts of will and necessity. Part of my work will critically examine transhumanist and posthumanist perspectives, as they partially share the foundational premises of antinatalist inquiry, to show whether a solution, different from Antinatalism and affirming life, rather than negating it, can be reached.