Suicide: An Ethical Delimna

[Losty]

That's ridiculous. By your standards the family of someone who is killed would be victims of the murder victim. Suicide is a victimless crime.

No. The murder victim didn't perpetrate the act of murder. The person who committed suicide did perpetrate the act of suicide. Not only that, unless they accidentally jumped out a window, or accidentally ingested a bottle of sleeping pills and a quarter of Jack Daniels, they made a conscious decision to end their own life. What they did NOT do is include the suffering of others in their calculus of whether to go through with the act. That's selfish and unethical.

Maybe it unethical for others to suffer over someone else's death. Other people's comfort should always come after your own needs, unless that person depends on you to survive. Being selfish to an extent is a basic human instinct. I don't always consider other people's feelings with every decision I make. I do what's right for me and if possible I do it in a way that eases any suffering caused to others, but if it's not possible to ease the suffering I still do what's best for me. I don't ask other people to make decisions in their own life based on my feelings. 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?

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I'm sorry, lust, gluttony, laziness? I didn't realize you were religious. We will never come to an agreement on this because I think you have a skewed sense of morality and you probably think I do too.

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.