BIOETHICS SUICIDE

Suicide

direct and willful destruction of one’s own life

Direct insofar

primary object of the act itself is the killing of oneself

Willful insofar

it is deliberate, voluntary, and intentional

Destructive insofar

means of terminating one’s own life is violent, brutal or very harsh

• Misfortune and frustration in love or marriage.

• Parental indifference or apathy towards one's boyfriend or girlfriend.

• In-law problems.

• Failure in an examination.

• Loss of honor and integrity.

• A nervous breakdown due to one's inability to cope with life's problems.

Personal Reasons of Suicide

• Poverty and impoverishment

• Great loss of money or collapse in a business venture.

Financial Causes of Suicide

• Failed coup d'etat

• Protest against man's inhumanity

to man.

Social and Political Causes

• Socrates

• Plato

• Aristotle

• Epicurus

• Lucius Seneca

• Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius

Philosophical Perspectives

Socrates

• An individual was a property of the gods, so self-killing would bring about their anger.

• The permission of the gods could be manifested in a “visible necessity of dying,”

1. any shame of extreme distress and

   impoverishment

2. affliction by any extraordinary sorrow

3. inevitable turn of fortune

Plato’s 3 EXCEPTION TO PROHIBIT SUICIDE

Aristotle

Suicide as an act of cowardice and an

offense against the state.

Epicurus

If life ceases to be a pleasure or a

pleasant one, the recourse for a free

individual is to terminate it.

Lucius Seneca

Argued eloquently in favor of suicide as

an escape from suffering and the decay

of old age.

Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius

• Both Stoic philosophers emphasized living (and dying) with virtue and honor.

• They valued a death with dignity over a life marred by ignominy, seeing courage in facing death rather than succumbing to fear or shame.

• Samson

• King Saul

• Judas Iscariot

Biblical Perspectives

Samson (Judges 16:23-31)

• Chose to die with his enemies.

• Die with dignity, avenging his foes rather than living in ignominy and darkness for the rest of his life

King Saul (1 Samuel 31:4-5)

• Committed suicide on Mount Gilboa during the final battle.

• Preferred death to falling into enemy hands, avoiding public humiliation.

Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:5)

• Took his own life by hanging, haunted by his betrayal of Jesus.

• His death reflects a desire to escape the ignominy of his actions, thoughmorally and spiritually tragic.

• Michel De Montiage

• John Donne

• Baron De Montesquieu

• David Hume

PROS OF SUICIDE

Michel De Montiage

• born on (1533-1592), a French essayist and skeptical philosopher, was the first to explicitly question the views of St. Augustine and Aquinas.

• He argued that if and when an individual reaches a point where all that he/she feels is terrible pain, agony, and misery, then suicide becomes excusable, permissible.

• In his view, one's fear of suffering that is worse than death itself is the most excusable incitement to self-killing

John Donne

• born on (1573-1631), a British clergyman and a religious writer, criticized the Christian prohibition of suicide as self-serving for capitalists and Christian authorities who exploit and oppress their laborers.

• The proscription of the Church, he explained, is merely a part of the economic enslavement of laborers.

• Suicide, in his view, is a means of liberating oneself from exploitation and oppression.

• Thus, the prohibition of suicide is a surreptitious way of preventing the masses from escaping the tasks expected of them by the prohibitors.

Baron De Montesquieu

• born on (1689-1755), a philosopher and political theorist, also justified suicide by saying:

  • it is unjust to compel a person to labor for a society he/she no longer consents to be a member of-this justifies the act of terminating one's own life;

  • the act of suicide does not disturb the order of Providence, nor does any other human act alter the modifications of matter;

  • though the soul is separated from the body, the order or regularity in the universe never changes.

David Hume

• (1711-1776)

• a Scottish philosopher, defended suicide:

  • The removal of misery makes suicide morally justifiable and permissible; to bear unbearable pain is in no way part of a natural inclination;

  • Moral duty is reciprocal; while alive and healthy, it is one's bounden duty to render service to society, as it protects him/her in return, but when his/her life becomes a liability and a burden to society, his/her withdrawal is not only innocent but laudable;

  • There is no such thing as order designed by God; man's life is as disposable as that of an oyster.

• Jewish and Christian Views (Flavius Josephus)

• St. Augustine

• St. Thomas Aquinas

THE CONS OF SUICIDE

Jewish and Christian Views

the earliest rejection of suicide is found in the teachings of Flavius Josephus (c. 37–100).

Teachings of Flavius Josephus

• a commander of a defeated army, he argued against his soldiers’ desire to kill themselves to avoid shame.

• he maintained that suicide goes against the natural instinct of self-preservation and violates God’s will, since the soul is entrusted to humans by God

St. Augustine

is a grave sin because it is greater than the sins it seeks to avoid, breaks the commandment “Thou shall not kill,” removes the opportunity for repentance, and represents an attempt to escape life’s hardships

St. Thomas Aquinas

• presented a threefold argument:

  • suicide is against natural law and self-preservation,

  • harms society by depriving it of a member

  • and wrongly claims authority over a life that is ultimately God’s gift.

• NATURAL LAW ETHICS

• UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE

• KANTIAN ETHICS

APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES

Natural Law Ethics

• suicide is viewed as self-murder because life is a gift from God, and individuals are merely stewards, not owners, of their lives.

• Since a person does not have dominion over his or her own life, taking it is considered morally wrong.

Utilitarian Perspective

• However, suicide may be argued as justifiable if it reduces suffering or lessens the burden on others

• appealing to the principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number—though this remains debatable

Kantian Ethics

• suicide is generally rejected because it treats oneself merely as a means rather than as an end.

• Yet some argue that Kant’s concept of autonomy and rational will can be interpreted to support the idea of choosing death with dignity under certain circumstances.