Do we own our own lives? A discussion on the morality of suicide and voluntary slavery.

[Jackalope]

In my view, we don't. Only the person who's life it is in question has that right.

So, do you think that someone who has been depressed for two months and someone who has terminal cancer have an equal right to end their lives?

Short answer: yes, they do.

The long answer is, as you implied in your earlier post, quite a bit more complicated than that. It's a question of how far we are willing to allow society and the state to infringe upon that right. In the example you gave, the state is certainly going to take an interest in protecting the welfare of someone who is acting irrationally due to the impact of mental illness - and I certainly have no objection to that. Can I rationally justify the infringment of the right in that case? No, I cannot - but I wish it to be so nonetheless.

The hard question that I am wont to ask is this: Why are we as a culture so uncomfortable with the logical conclusions that result from the concept of people owning thier own lives?

What would you do if you came home and one of you loved ones was dying on the floor from an overdose?

I found my mother dying of an overdose when I was 17. Of course I called an ambulance, and I'd do it again if the situation was repeated, regardless of what I think the rational implications of self-ownership are.

You can call an ambulance and save their life, or you can acknowledge their right to take their own life and let them die. It's that instinct that most people would feel in that situation which makes us uncomfortable, in my opinion.

Yes, of course. You and I would do the same.