Suicide is Neither Rational nor Irrational (original) (raw)
Related papers
What is Wrong with Rational Suicide
Philosophia, 2010
Recently, the 'right to die' became a major social issue. Few agree suicide is a right tout court. Even those who believe suicide ('regular', passive, or physicianassisted) is sometimes morally permissible usually require that a suicide be 'rational suicide': instrumentally rational, autonomous, due to stable goals, not due to mental illness, etc. We argue that there are some perfectly 'rational suicides' that are, nevertheless, bad mistakes. The concentration on the rationality of the suicide instead of on whether it is a mistake may lead to permitting suicides that should be forbidden.
The “mad” intentions of those who suicide
inter-disciplinary.net
There is a tension in understanding agency in suicide. On the one hand, those who suicide must be recognised as the authors of their deaths. On the other hand, those who suicide are often reported as having suffered from mental illness such as depression. This renders them agentic, but only to a certain degree. They killed themselves but only because they were not in their "right" mind, since presumably no one in their "right" mind wants to suicide. Can agency in suicide be called rational, or is it inevitably attributed to madness and therefore irrational? What if it is rational even when someone is "mad"? What if it is rational precisely because someone is "mad"? I respond to these questions in three parts. First, I examine how suicidology interprets the notion of intent in suicide, and how this relates to the broader understanding of agency. Secondly, drawing on Judith Butler's work on performativity, I consider whether agency is relational. Thirdly, I explore whether intent in suicide is multi-dimensional, and what this offers towards recognising the agency of those who suicide, and honouring those who remain to grieve and remember. My argument is that understanding intent in suicide is dependent not only on individual actions, but also on social norms and assumptions -all of which must be considered when the one who suffers from depression wants to end it all.
Rationality and the wish to die—a response to Clarke
2000
In a scholarly and thought-provoking paper, Clarke sets out to debunk the concept of “rational suicide” as nonsensical. 1 His motivation in this is to undermine any support that the notion of rational suicide might give to a “categorical right to suicide”. If his enterprise were successful, however, it would go far beyond the “rights issue” and would have a profound impact on all arguments raised in support of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide.
External Conditions, Internal Rationality: Spinoza on the Rationality of Suicide
2023
I argue alongside some other scholars that there is a plausible reading of Spinoza's philosophy of suicide which holds both of the following tenets: first, that suicides occur because of external conditions, and second, that there are at least some suicides which are rational. These two tenets require special attention because they seem to be the source of significant tension. For Spinoza, if one's cognitions are to be the most adequate, they must be "disposed internally" (E2p29s/G II 114), or determined more from one's own mental nature than from "fortuitous encounters" with other things (E2p29s/G II 114). It may seem there is a conflict, then, in saying both that there are rational suicides in the Spinozist framework, and that suicides must always be a result of external conditions: it seems a suicide simply cannot be rational if it is the result of external conditions. But this tension, it will be shown, can be dissolved. Once this tension is dealt with, I offer some brief closing arguments. I explain how this reading of Spinoza's philosophy of suicide can satisfy a call for new suicide research which avoids forms of overindividualism and epistemic injustice, and which encourages us to abolish oppressive conditions that lead to rational suicides.
Choosing death: the moral status of suicide
Psychiatric Bulletin, 1996
Our moral conception of suicide is examined. It is argued that a neutral definition of suicide is difficult to achieve and that how we treat the question of suicide shows what value we place on the sanctity of life or on life as a means to other ends. The case is made that autonomy, the principle of self-governance, has acquired special importance in the modem world to the detriment of other ethical principles such as beneficence.
From Act to Fact: The Transformation of Suicide in Western Thought
• The article is about the moral debate over suicide, from Augustine to the present. It assesses critically the transformation of a humanistic debate into a scientifi c one. Among the fi gures who receive detailed attention are Augustine, Montaigne, Donne, Vol-taire, Rousseau, and Durkheim.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Suicide
Throughout history, suicide has evoked an astonishingly wide range of reactions-bafflement, dismissal, heroic glorification, sympathy, anger, moral or religious condemnation-but it is never uncontroversial. Suicide is now an object of multidisciplinary scientific study, with sociology, anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry each providing important insights into suicide. Particularly promising are the significant advances being made in our scientific understanding of the neurological and genetic bases of suicidal behavior , Joiner 2010 and the mental conditions associated with it. Nonetheless, many of the most controversial questions surrounding suicide are philosophical. For philosophers, suicide raises a host of conceptual, moral, and psychological questions. Among these questions are: What makes a person's behavior suicidal? What motivates such behavior? Is suicide morally permissible, or even morally required in some extraordinary circumstances? Is suicidal behavior rational? This article will examine the main currents of historical and contemporary philosophical thought surrounding these questions.
2021
The motivation behind attempting suicide ranges from egoistic to altruistic, with societal preconceptions varying significantly between the two. In this ethical review, moralist, relativist, and libertarian theories are utilized to explore the morality of suicide. The hedonistic act utilitarian theory, which assesses the righteousness of an action solely based on the amount of pleasure or displeasure it creates, is used to evaluate the morality of suicide. According to the beneficence principle, there is sometimes a moral justification for suicide to alleviate suffering. On the other hand, Mill's rule utilitarianism views actions by their effect on overall human happiness and directs us to perform actions that maximize utility. For some individuals, like those undergoing immense suffering, the right to painless suicide would maximize utility. Kantian theory focuses on an individual's duty to uphold honour, dignity, and rationality. Collectively, these three virtues set the foundation of Kantian deontology. Furthermore, the libertarian view emphasizes the inherent right of human beings to individual security, liberty, and property with minimum government intervention. Libertarians recognize that suicide can be a rational and reasonable response to intolerable suffering. The ethical theories have proven to be interdependent; together, they propel us toward a better understanding of the morality of suicide.
The Morality of Suicide and the Individual as Creators and Evaluators of the Self
The investigation of suicide often leads one toward issues concerning morality, value judgment, power, and relationship. This is attributed to the idea that the victim is also the perpetrator which follows the rational suggestion that the given qualities are inherently and fundamentally related to the self to which external critics and judges produce the choice to internalize the victim’s/perpetrator’s burdens in an attempt to rationalize. Performing such a deed is not non-sensible, since it not only leads to an understanding of the suicidal individual, but to an understanding of our social atmosphere and the forces that may lead one toward such a seemingly tragic end. Henri Wijsbek’s essay “To Thine own Self be True: On the Loss of Integrity as a kind of Suffering” explores such an idea in which he relates a middle-aged woman’s, Mrs. Boomsma, loss of integrity to a rational reason to commit suicide. Meanwhile, the work of Gilles Deleuze/Félix Guatarri’s Anti-Oedipus provides supplementary and relevant material to Wijsbek’s essay in which the investigation of the morality and the self-relational characteristics are advanced. However, suicide is not immoral because the self is one of the most intimate relationships we generate and hold, giving the individual the power and the authority to judge the value of their lives. Most thinkers aim to extract the individual to isolate and study the suicidal person and avoid re-depositing the individual. This essay will analyze Wijsbek’s work by first examining the individual and how it relates to Mrs. Boomsa’s suicide, followed by taking this established perception of the individual and applying it to social relations. In doing so, this will show internal and external factors and demonstrate under what circumstances suicide can be moral thereby exhibiting the flaws in Wijsbek’s work while proving his conclusion correct.