Suicide: An Ethical Delimna

[bennyboy]

Who's to say being selfish is unethical? Who's to say the people who care about the suicide person don't already suffer immensely because of this person's depression and anxiety?

As I said in a previous post, if being selfish when your actions cause harm to others isn't unethical, then what is? What about theft? Pedophilia? Murder? Enraged assaults?

Why is it that one other-harm-causing, instinct-driven act is forgiven or even supported as an act of liberty, while the others are seen as monstrous? What is so special about suicide that the dysfunction and its subsequent act should be supported, defended, and sympathised with, but not all those other dysfunctions and their acts?

I'm not. My point is that the actions we consider harmful to the self or others are ALL mediated by brain chemistry. They all involve influences beyond the direct agency of a consious person.

Yes, but none of them are unethical in and of themselves. They may be "sins" but no one cares about that.

Without animal instincts, we would be unlikely to act unethically. If you didn't have the instinct to fight, why would you kill? If you didn't have the instinct for lust, why would you cheat on your wife? If you didn't have the instinct to avoid pain, why would you kill yourself?

Instincts aren't unethical. But behaviors are, and they are all mediated by instincts. Having a brain tumor or chemical inbalance isn't unethical. But behaviors caused by them are often highly unethical. Despite a person not having real free-will agency, the acts are still selfish, harmful, and unethical.