Discussion Existential Grounds for Suicide

[Curious Cat]

What existential reasons are sufficient grounds for ending one's life?

(Please number your reasons and keep them brief. Afterwards, should others show interest in your answers, then feel free to elaborate. In the meantime, keep your response concise and to the point.)

 

[FuneralCry]

I think that anyone has the right to exit this world at a time of their own choosing no matter the reasons why, it's a personal decision when to leave. Suicide doesn't even need a reason in the first place, if someone simply doesn't want to be alive then they should be able to leave.

 

[theboy]

Life has no meaning

Everyone will forget you at some point

you will die anyway

 

[Tiberius85]

For Marcus and the Ancient Stoics suicide can be a reasonable choice. It has to be for the right reasons (reasons according to Stoic doctrine) though, i.e. if one can't make any positive contribution to humankind any longer (like helping others; key to living a virtuous life for Stoics) or if one's own death in fact is a positive contribution (as a form of protest statement for example to instigate change for the better).

According to the Stoics it would be a wrong reason if one attempts suicide simply because of unhappiness with ones own life circumstances. Rather, one should see them as a challenge to test the virtues against. I feel it's important to add this context when using an ancient quote.

Personally, on one hand I concur with the Stoics. They talk sense. On the other hand, I see it similar to FuneralCry: it doesn't require a reason at all. We have no choice over whether we want to be born in first place. But it shall be ultimately our choice whether we want to cease to live.

 

[jodes2]

I agree, any reason is fine. If a person's gotta go, they gotta go

 

[Pluto]

Bit of a thread bump here, but...

According to the Stoics it would be a wrong reason if one attempts suicide simply because of unhappiness with ones own life circumstances. Rather, one should see them as a challenge to test the virtues against. I feel it's important to add this context when using an ancient quote.

This sounds like a very rational approach. Interesting that such a perspective would be essentially banned in modern day discourse.

Choice is extremely fundamental to life, and we must accept that everyone will make choices of their own accord. Anti-choice is an illusion; at most, it is possible to add barriers.

Suicide is unique in that there is no Ctrl-Z option. Even so, it can be treated as a noble act of martyrdom, an act of vengeance, or something between. Personally, I lean towards the nobility side, including accepting my inability to meaningfully help others and a desire to give away all my possessions, including the body itself, to others. And yet, the act itself is identical to another person coming from a place of apathy. The place where we are coming from in the act of suicide is therefore a choice within a choice.

 

[Bardo]

I found some interesting books on the Internet Archive for free download (no viruses) by philosophers who might be classified "Negative Pessimist". This cheered me up immensely. I didn't feel so alone in my views. THE PHILOSOPHY OF DISENCHANTMENT AND THE ANATOMY OF NEGATION by Edgar Saltus; THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN by E.M. Cioran; THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE by Thomas Ligotti; MEN WITHOUT WOMEN STORIES by Haruki Murakami; MY BIG TOE ( "TOE"= "Theory Of Everything"--complete trilogy in one volume) by Thomas Campbell (not negative pessimist. He's a nuclear physicist who has studied consciousness for decades and has some really fascinating theories based on his work with Robert Monroe and remote-viewing); three books by Brad Olsen; a fascinating book called A BOOK OF SURREALIST GAMES; THE MANIFESTO OF THE HAPPILY UNEMPLOYED by Guillaume Paoli; ABOLISH WORK. Enjoy.

 

[Bardo]

Just found a new book on suicide written from a Buddhist perspective (found also on the internet archive). The title is SUICIDE: A STUDY OF THE SELF.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Existentialism: 'emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.' (Oxford Dictionary Definition.)

Surely suicide is the strongest action of will a person can take- it flies in the face of biological, social and religious norms.

Is the suicidal person a 'responsible agent' though? Not if the normies are right and we are all mentally unstable...

The 'determining their own development' part could be problematic too... Suicide is effectively ceasing all development. UNLESS you believe in an afterlife OR you think your death will turn you into a legend- Van Gogh, Kurt Cobain- countless others. (Not to say they CTB for that reason... Seems a possibility that Van Gogh maybe didn't even take his own life- still- the story likely made him more famous.)

 

[TransilvanianHunger]

Existentialism doesn't really provide arguments in favour of suicide, at least in most of its flavours. Rather, it tries to answer why, in an existence void of all meaning, one shouldn't just kill themselves. The most famous offspring of this is probably absurdism—one should live intensely, as an act of rebellion against the meaningless of existence.

Personally, I'm on the side of Schopenhauer. He argues that one's aim in life should be to, essentially, transcend the difficulties and ills of existence, and suicide means giving up on the possibility of reaching that point. At the same time, one should have the right to decide whether they want to end it, and should not be vilified or criticised for making the decision, as only they know the truth of their situation. Forcing someone to live against their own wishes is inadmissible:

"The right to or claim on something means nothing more than to do it, or take it or be able to use it without in any way thereby injuring another: simplicity is the sign of the true. This sheds light on the meaninglessness of the same questions, e.g. whether we have the right to take our own life. [...] That the one who no longer wants to live for himself should now continue to live merely as a machine for the use of others is an extravagant demand."

 

[Bardo]

Just found a new book on suicide written from a Buddhist perspective (found also on the internet archive). The title is SUICIDE: A STUDY OF THE SELF.

Just read the long and oh-so-redundant book named above. While author had some good points, his Buddhist ideology shows at the end in a dogmatic way. I'd pass. However, I just found a title, THE MYTH OF NORMAL by Gabor Mate'. He's interesting, and his son's a good journalist, so it should be interesting to see what he says. Then, one can read CAPITALISM AND SCHIZOPHRENIA while the other personality reads Mate'--such a time-saver:)

 

[stermc]

Just read Philipp Mainländer and Emil Cioran. It's all there.

 

[Bardo]

Just found a new book on suicide written from a Buddhist perspective (found also on the internet archive). The title is SUICIDE: A STUDY OF THE SELF.

Update: I read book. It's quite long and redundant and dogmatic at end. I'd pass.

 

[ArmorFati]

I think life has too much too offer. Like the smell of old library books.