Suicide for mostly Philosophical reasons?

[existenceis123abc]

Hi all, I'm an undergraduate studying philosophy at university. A number of Nihilist/Philosophical pessimist works have had a bad effect on me and i cant reason my way out of it. Am i fucking crazy or what??

 

[Plentiful_Despair]

I fucking love your profile picture. Rust Cohle is a legend.

I don't think wanting to commit suicide because of philosophy is "crazy", honestly I am confused about how many people can kill themselves without any deeper philosophical reasoning. I know why I want to die. This whole world is so insanely evil, in the most primal sense, without a necessary focus on individuals. If you truly look at life, every sentient being suffers, just to die all the same. Sure, there are happy moments, I had them too, plenty of them, but the happiness that we experience is just a fulfilling of a deprivation, of a craving, for some short period of time. For example, I hate how my body desires food every day. I don't want to eat, just to shit out toxic waste, to do it all over again. I don't want to drink just to piss. I don't want to work just to have a imaginary currency made out of dead wood. I don't want to have sex just to fulfill the insane desire to bring more life into this hellish place. I don't want to listen to music just so I can't hear these thoughts. I don't want to become old just to develop illness. I don't want to look at "cute animals", knowing full well how they tear each other apart and feast upon their babies if they are undisturbed in nature, creating a million unknown massacres every day.

 

[Alexei_Kirillov]

Not crazy, there are plenty of people (including myself) who share similar views. With that said, the vast majority of those people don't actually end up committing suicide because at the end of the day, philosophy doesn't trounce biology. There usually has to be some other kind of "push" factor, namely acute suffering.

 

[Themogger]

I always make a list of reasons (about 20) for whenever I make a big life decision and this is one of em for ctb. But philosophy as a sole reason for dying is pretty bold tbh

 

[Forever Sleep]

It's an interesting question. Do you not think the desire to suicide is more driven by emotion though?

I feel like our emotions tend to influence what we look to absorb in this world. So, someone who feels very motivated with their goals in life- whatever they may be- career, sports, hobbies, travel, art- I doubt they would take much notice of nihilism- it would maybe be something other people think. But, to someone who's already feeling down, pessimistic, cynical, nihilism simply confirms that what they are feeling is correct. I think we often look for things to reinforce how we already feel.

That's not to say what we feel is right or wrong. Is there really objective truth when it comes to what people either find joy/ fulfilment or emptiness in? Can you tell that athlete that running that race is a total waste of time? Sure- you can try but it likely won't deminish their want to try and do it and the euphoria they may feel if they win it.

 

[BeedyBee]

No, you're not crazy. I'm the same way. My desire to ctb is driven by my philosophical conclusions about my own identity

 

[lovelesslifeless]

no matter how people try to slice it or sum it up with all these fancy terms and labels
no one can deny it's still ultimately not a pleasant experience for most
people have different copes and call it different things
if it's not a positive outlook or mainstream suddenly it's ''philosophical'' or ''psychology''
to me it's just the natural strife that comes with being human, especially in today's age
it'd be more refreshing if more people could just be honest about it, for once

 

[SmallKoy]

Of course you aren't crazy. I was suicidal before, but I took a philosophy class in college and it 100% influenced me to research metaphysical topics and death more. Learning philosophy definitely contributed to my suicidal thinking. Not saying that's an inherent trait of taking a philosophy class but I think it's not uncommon for sure.

 

[BoulderSoWhat]

Hi all, I'm an undergraduate studying philosophy at university. A number of Nihilist/Philosophical pessimist works have had a bad effect on me and i cant reason my way out of it. Am i fucking crazy or what??

Have you read Albert Camus "The Myth of Sisyphus?" The opening lines to his work are:

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards."

It's a great work I highly recommend if you get the chance to look into it :)

But otherwise, are you able to articulate the general thought process you have after having read what has impacted you? I got into philosophy stuff in high school, studied it a little more as my major in college before dropping out.

 

[BoulderSoWhat]

I think at the core of any person's considerations of Nihilism, Existentialism, Absurdism, and any other "isms" lol, is that no matter what is reasoned or felt, how a person proceeds comes down to choice and autonomy. That's going to mean and look differently for everyone depending on their situation, circumstances, health, etc.

I won't open up the box about free will. But let's just skip to the part where we know there is an answer, even if we'll never know what it is. Maybe we will know, but that doesn't change that it only "is what it is."

Let's say I have free will (whatever that technically means). Great, then of my own free will I expressed my thoughts here. Let's say I don't have free will. Great, then I didn't freely express my thoughts here, but still did nonetheless. Whether I'm free or not, or some weird mix of both, I either will or won't commit actions and agree or disagree with thoughts. I will still freely or unfreely consider the consequences of my thoughts and actions for the benefit or detriment of myself or others around me.

Whether we're free or not, if it's outside of our control to know, choose, or change the predicament, we are still living or not.

So I guess, no matter which ways a person reasons or doesn't reason, the question is still "What are they going to do about what they think or don't think?" Or if what can be done is limited or nothing at all, a person will still have to experience and interact with consciously existing if they are alive. This is adjacent to Camus' notion of "revolting against the absurd." I think Nietzsche's "Superman" idea is hitting on a similar concept too.

I also recommend checking out stuff on YouTube by exurb1a.

 

[zengiraffe]

Reason is the mouthpiece of emotion. Either you have the urge to kill yourself or you don't, and you'll make up whatever philosophies you need to in order to justify your suicidal feelings to yourself. That's what everyone does about everything.

 

[BlackCatCrossing]

I believe suicide is such a natural form of death. Nature taking care of itself.

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

If you live in the USA you can probably claim compensation and damages from your university.