RE: Suicide: An Ethical Delimna
November 29, 2014 at 8:26 pm
(This post was last modified: November 29, 2014 at 8:30 pm by bennyboy.)
Living and dying are not logical issues. There are logical reasons on both sides of the issue, but these are rooted in arbitrary value judgements. For example, if Earth's environment is important, then both murder and suicide are logical ways to reduce pollution. If maintaining a positive community around you is important, then both those actions are usually immoral, as death is traumatic for those who find the body, or who care about someone, or even who even just know someone (like the clerk you always nod to and say hi in the local market).
I think the desire for suicide is usually delusional. You have negative feelings, and believe that they cannot/will not change. However, the fact is that everything changes, constantly-- and one's outlook and feelings are among the things which are most dynamic.
Also, if you are really on the way out, suicide also represents a deliberate refusal to participate in the greater good. If you are going to remove yourself from the world, why not go help out patients with ebola, or join a volunteer fire-fighting department? Why not volunteer to test a high-risk drug test? Why not pick a few people who are obviously doing harm in the world, and go pay them a visit with 30 pounds of TNT strapped to your chest? There are so many great things one could do with a life that has been deemed discardable, and suicide is pretty close to the bottom of the list. Why say "fuck you" to the world and everyone in it, just because you don't feel like existing in it anymore? THAT is selfish and immoral, IMO.
I think the desire for suicide is usually delusional. You have negative feelings, and believe that they cannot/will not change. However, the fact is that everything changes, constantly-- and one's outlook and feelings are among the things which are most dynamic.
Also, if you are really on the way out, suicide also represents a deliberate refusal to participate in the greater good. If you are going to remove yourself from the world, why not go help out patients with ebola, or join a volunteer fire-fighting department? Why not volunteer to test a high-risk drug test? Why not pick a few people who are obviously doing harm in the world, and go pay them a visit with 30 pounds of TNT strapped to your chest? There are so many great things one could do with a life that has been deemed discardable, and suicide is pretty close to the bottom of the list. Why say "fuck you" to the world and everyone in it, just because you don't feel like existing in it anymore? THAT is selfish and immoral, IMO.
