Moral Issue of Suicide

DEFINTION

Direct willfull destruction of one’s own lifeDeliberateVoluntaryIntentionalTerminating one’s own life

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

WITH SUICIDE AND

EUTHANASIA?

Suicide Euthanasia

Destructive and violent

The person is healthy when it comes to physical condition

Sudden interruption or destruction of life process

Non-medical reasons

Person has incurable ailment or terminal condition

Painless, quiet acceleration of imminent of certain death

Medical reasons

WHERE WILL YOU CLASSIFY

ASSISTED SUICIDE?

Causes of Suicide across the History

Kamikaze pilots during world war II Heroic act due to sacrifice of their own country

Japanese Shintoist Believes that those who died for one’s country will

become one of the deities.Japanese’s Harakiri

To die for the sake of honorRoman Catholics Irishment and Buddhist

Self-immolation and self-starvation

Causes of Suicide

1. Personal reasons1. Misforutne and frustrations in love or marriage2. Victim of a broken home or marriage3. Parental indifference or apathy towards one’s

boyfriend or girlfriend4. In-law problems5. Failure in an examination6. Loss of honor and integrity7. Nervous breakdown d/t inability to cope to problems

Causes of Suicide

2. Financial reasons Poverty and impoverishment Great loss of money or collapse in business venture

3. Social reasons failed coup d’etat Protest against man’s inhumanity to man

Pros of SuicideSocrates

Believes that life is a property of God But for him one is accepted to commit suicide if:

Shame, distress,impoverishment Extraodinary problems Enevitable turn of future

Epicurus Life is no linger pleasureable then the recourse is to

terminate itLucius Sineca

Suicide is an escape of suffering from decay of old age

Pros of Suicide

Michael de Montaigne Individual reaches a point when it is terrible pain, agony

and misery, then suicide is excusableJohn Donne

Means of liberating oneself from exploitation and oppresionBaron de Montesquieu

It is unjust to compel a person to labor for society he no longer consents to be a member

The act of suicide does not disturbe the order of Providence, nor does any other human act alter the modifications of matter

Thought the soul is separated from the body, the order or regularity in the universe is never changes

Pros of Suicide

David Hume The removal of misery makes suicide morally

justifiable and permissible To bear unbearable pain is in no way part of a natural

inclination Moral duty is reciprocal

alive and healthy render service to society Life becomes a liablitiy and burden to society suicide

There is no such thing as designed by God Man’s life is disposable as that of an oyster

Cons on Suicide

Flavius Josephus Suicide is a crime Soul is depositum

St. Augustine Suicide- the greatest sin Self-murder Deprives ones oppurtunity to repent Ignoble acts – escape the ills of life

St. Thomas Aquinas Against natural law of self –preservation Person will be deprived of the community Usurpation of God’s function

Application of Ethical Theories

NATURAL LAW ETHICS Principle of stewardship Suicide is a sin

UTILITARIAN’S PRINCIPLE Whenever one has become a burden and liability to

the greatest number of people, its justifiable to commit suicide

KANT’S ETHICS Categorical imperative

Treat individulas not as means only but also as ends Principle of autonomy/self-determination

Has the right to decide whether to commit suicide or not