Suicide: An Ethical Delimna

[bennyboy]

I don't know man.

Some of them really SUCK.

Yep. And their brains are sucking in info, processing it, and leading to their behaviors. Their DNA, their hormones, their neurotransmitters, their brain structures. Am I missing any contributor to human agency, as you see it? Are we going to reintroduce abstracts like the soul, or are we going to accept that all behavior, no matter how monstrous, is a result of all these factors, none of which is within a person's control?

It seems to me we dismiss the idea of agency in people who elicit sympathy in us, and are perfectly willing to demonize those who elicit antipathy, and to hold them to account completely for their actions, over which they ultimatley have a similar lack of control. What about a wife beater? He sucks. He was probably abused as a child, too. Where should we stand in his case?

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Are we to accept all counterproductive behaviors under the umbrella of understanding, because we understand brain chemistry better now, or are we still going to see ethics as a relevant field of philosophy?

No, because I don't really go for slippery slope arguments.

Slippery slope or cherry picking. Either people should be held accountable for their wrong actions, or they cannot be.

There is no single basis. Regarding this specific act, the ethics of it are as internal as an ethical situation can be. It is ethical to decide that I want to shut my biological substrate off, because it is my own.

There's no such thing as an ethics of one. Ethics IS the field of considering the effects of the actions of the self on the experiences of others.

I'm not suggesting either of these things. I'm saying that it's not cool to shame or guilt trip a suicidal person. Not only is it selfish on your part, but they are likely feeling plenty enough shame and guilt already.

Have I guilted or shamed a suicidal person? Show me.