Suicide As An Act Of Cowardice By Albert Camus

For the purpose of the current essay, suicide will be defined, as an act or instance of taking ones own life through direct, deliberate and immediate acts that lead to death life through direct, deliberate and immediate acts that lead to death (XXXXX). Importantly, one should remember that there are different forms of suicide. For example, euthanasia to end suffering or physician assisted suicide as well as adolescent suicides for individuals that are prepubescent and honor suicides which are completed to escape the shame, placed on themselves or others, of an action they did. Additionally, there are two forms of attempted suicides that should be considered. First there is para suicide, or an attempted suicide using nonlethal means (Curra). Often, these are suicide attempts or gestures such as consuming a nonlethal amount of medication or cutting where the cut is not deep enough to cause significant blood less. Although there are numerous forms of suicide, the primary focus for the remainder of this essay will be on

Feelings of isolation have been linked to higher suicide rates. Durkheim’s study on suicide during the industrial revolution supports this theory as he states that, “people were increasingly disconnected from their communities and that this social upheaval had a greater effect on suicide rates than other factors like wealth” (Winner & Collishaw, 2011). Interestingly enough, despite the increase of media attention on suicide, no studies have been published that explain why suicide rates vary among different groups. However, various factors are involved in the decision to commit suicide. As a result, suicide rates vary according to race, gender and age.

Throughout this essay, we will be looking a Durkheim’s analysis of suicide and whether his ideas on suicide were right in his time, and whether they are still relevant in today’s society. Emile Durkheim described ‘suicide’ as a term “applied to any death which is the direct or indirect result of a positive or negative act accomplished by the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result” (Durkheim, Suicide: a Study in Sociology, originally published 1897, 1970). Positive acts were acts that were undertaking with the intention to produce death. Negative acts were actually the distinct lack of survival acts undertaken, with the knowledge that without these acts, death would be the result. As far as Durkheim was concerned, although suicide itself is a very individual act, the reasoning behind suicide was due to predominantly social factors (Durkheim 1970, p44). Suicide was sociological, not psychological. His research was based not on the personality traits of those who had committed suicide, but instead at the suicide rates of different countries compared to the social factors that link the countries together (Durkheim 1970, p40).

Suicide was seen as a just way to die if one was faced with unendurable suffering - be it physical or emotional”. Throughout time, suicide has been viewed and dealt with in countless ways. Recently in America, the problem has grown increasingly. In the past decade, suicide rates have been on the incline; especially among men. According to the New York Times (2013), “From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent… The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000”. A 30 percent increase with an average of 19 more male suicides than female suicides is certainly an issue for both genders, and an epidemic for men. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (n.d.), found that in 2010, 38,364 suicides were reported, with 78.9% being men. The economic recession, unemployment, and various other factors are speculated to be responsible for this incline in male suicide. As of 2010, an estimated 30,308 men ended their own lives, and it seems as if there is a great risk of that number increasing each year.

Suicide is, according to Sartre, “an opportunity to stake out our understanding of our essence as individuals in a godless world” (Stanford, 2004). Fundamentally, existentialism argues all individuals are free and therefore responsible for their actions. Thus, it is up to the individual to create an ethos of personal ideology, which is the only way one is able to rise above the human condition of suffering, death and finality (Guigon, 2001). Suicide is seen as the individual’s act of giving in to the absurdity of human life. In other words, when a human is unable to create meaning out of the absurdity that surrounds him or herself, her or she live the typical life of pain, suffering, death and thus make suicide a natural act of existence

In order to discover the different facets of what ‘suicide’ is, it is imperative to first define what the word itself means. Tracing back to Latin, the word is derived from the words sui meaning “of oneself" and cida meaning “killer,” (FIND). Thus, as found in the dictionary, suicide is “the action of killing oneself intentionally,” (Oxford).

Suicide is the act of killing yourself. It is the 11th leading cause of death in America (CDC 2009). I have never had any intentions on committing suicide and I never really understood why people commit suicide that’s why I chose this topic to help me understand what problems people go through that makes them do such a thing. Sociology is the study of social behavior and the culture of humans. There are numerous reasons like financial stress, family problems or mental health disorders that lead to suicide. The number one cause of suicide is untreated depression. The issues that were just listed are some social conditions from society that results in a suicidal

The third key idea is the gender gap. The text defines the gender gap of suicide by explaining that even though women have a higher rate of suicide attempts, men have a higher rate of suicidal deaths. This term was well defined in the article and the information given with it was presented substantially. The authors put together convincing statistics, although one source that was associated with multiple statistics was from 1997, which brings to question the validity of those statistics in today’s rapidly- changing society; almost 20 years later.

The debate between Mark A.R. Kleinman and Ira Byock discuss the topic of suicide whether it should be legal or not; Kleinman is arguing for suicide to be legal, which will come to the conclusion that suicide should be allowed for anyone and not have any punishment for an attempt. Byock argues the opposing argument that suicide should be illegal, but the focus of this argument will be Kleiman’s point of view. The exigency, the problem that can be fixed, is viewed in this argument that it is the people’s right to kill themselves and this is due to the depression and/or the feeling of thinking they are better off dead. The audience directed towards this argument is people committing suicide and those who oppose the people committing the ‘crime’ of suicide. Constraints, the biases, in this situation would be ethical beliefs and the people who have witnessed or experienced these suicidal thoughts. Kleinman’s reasoning is the use of emotion and human rights are seen to enhance his argument. Therefore suicide should not be legal, it should be treated instead of encouraged.

On average, every day, 121 people die from suicide, which means 44,193 deaths each year just in the United States. On the other hand, for every one suicide, there are at least 25 attempts. Every attempt that “failed” is just another chance to save a life. An unknown source once quoted “Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better.” There are multiple methods a person can choose from to commit suicide, but this essay will be discussing two specific methods: jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge and physician-assisted suicide.

The topic of suicide can easily become uncomfortable when discussing. Thoughts of family or friends using a permanent solution to a temporary problem is hard to grasp. Why would an individual choose to do this? Did it stem from personal reasons or was it fueled by a number of out-siding factors. Using Sociology we can decipher human behavior and gain an insight into a global issue .

Suicide is defined as “The action of killing oneself intentionally” within both South Korea and Wales. Suicide is seen as a huge social issue in both Wales and South Korea, both countries have seen a huge rise in suicide rates in the last decade but South Korea disproportionately sees a higher rate of suicide. Both countries are experiencing a rise in suicide rates and so, suicide is seen as a huge social issue, with government and non governmental bodies aiming to combat it. In my investigation I will not only be researching who this issue affects and what issues seem to be the main cause for the growth in suicide rates, but also responses and ways people have tried to tackle this problem. To do this I will have to follow my aims, which

In supporting this men have a stronger chance to actually end their life. Men choose much more lethal methods to end their lives compared to women, “In turnout of suicide attempt methods, the largest number of correlations with specific indirect self-destructiveness categories occurred, in the group of males, for asphyxia. It does not come as a surprise considering the fact that males use that method more commonly than females;”(Gruszczynski 206). In this study the methods men chose to end their lives was closely related to why they chose to end their life. While the methods the individual's chose was due in part to why they felt their was no solution to whatever their problem in life was causing them to commit suicide. The study conducted various self aggression

Suicide is mainly frowned upon in the western world whereas in Japan suicide may be seen as something which is noble and required to protect honour which the continuation of life would invalidate. The passage of time has also seen the emergence and rejection of different attitudes. During the persecution of Christians in Rome it was perceived as acceptable that a Christian virgin should commit suicide rather than be deflowered, raped by a Roman soldier. The Romans and Greeks both had the opinion that suicide was a responsible socially acceptable and sometimes necessary course of action, Socrates drank hemlock in the company of his friends. In certain parts of rural India it is still permissible for the wife of a deceased man to commit suicide by throwing herself onto his funeral pyre.

Suicide, to Durkheim, is “an exaggerated form of ordinary practices,” and they arise from “comparable states of mind” in people, with the only difference between daily and suicidal behavior being the “chance of death” (Durkheim 20-21). Durkheim spends the majority of the work dissecting the “apparent motives” for suicide (Durkheim 151) and observing the varieties of suicide, a feat made difficult by the inaccurate reporting and misunderstandings of investigators. Thus, to understand the types of suicide, we must “reverse the order of our research” for “There can only be as many different types of suicide as there are differences in the causes from which they derive,” (Durkheim 149). He says “if they were all found to have the same essential characteristics, they would be grouped in one class” but “observations that we would need to have are more or less impossible obtain” (Durkheim