Essay Suicide, the Catholic Position against Our Decision

      First some terms require clarification. Suicide is considered the intentional killing of one's self. Homicide is determined to be the intentional killing of one person by another (Savulescu, 1978, p. 31). Euthanasia (Greek: good death) is the

Having some personal issues is also a main cause of suicide such as being sexually abuse, homosexual preferences, and self- identity and a trauma (according to Edwin Shneidman) which includes poor health, example asthma, obesity, and multiple illness .

Every year, there are many people who commit suicide commonly due to depression. Suicide is a big issue for the Catholic Church and approximately one million people die worldwide each year. The Catholic Church is against suicide, but they will bury those who commit suicide knowing that God will judge that person. Since suicide is a mortal sin, the Church did not allow people who commit suicide to be buried in the Church, but the Church now understands what pain the victim is going through and allows them to be buried and encourages others to pay attention to the pain that causes the death and help others that has that pain. The Catholic Church teaches that only God can judge suicide victims, that we should help others with suicidal thoughts, and that suicide is not always a mortal sin.

Suicide is is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors include mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, alcoholism, or drug abuse. People choose suicide when they are hopeless or when they think there isn’t anyone that cares for them anymore. They can also choose this if they think there isn’t an end to their suffering or to their problem. Most of the time this happens because of depression and in some cases bullying, it can also happen because of alcohol or because of a major stressful event that has happened. Suicide can really happen anywhere and at any time.Suicide is a problem that exists because the numbers of suicide keep going up and won’t come down.

According to National Institute of Mental Health, “In 2007, it [suicide] was the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 34,598 deaths.” This statistic shows that even though the numbers compared to the entire population are small, it is rather common for people to deal with suicide around them and it is a major issue among people (NIMH). There are many different mixed emotions and views regarding suicide. Some people choose to believe that it is a mental state that makes a person feels the need to commit suicide. Others believe that it directly defies our duties to God, ourselves, and even others in society. It is morally wrong to commit suicide? There is a fine line between

There is no bioethical issue with a longer philosophical lineage than voluntary euthanasia, and physician assisted suicide. For most of that time, due to the mediation through religious authorities and law, the treatment of suicide has been largely negative. Older traditions of folklore and philosophy exhibit an attitude of abhorrence and arguments that show any form of suicide as being inherently wrong. Brian Stofell argues how this notion is wrong and how suicide can be morally right in some cases such as voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.

In “The Meaning of Lives,” Wolf asserts that the question “What is the Meaning of Life?” is inherently unintelligible because it is uncertain what the question is asking. In other words it is too general because it has no specified context. Wolf then acknowledges, however, that there is value in examining the meaningfulness of a life. This is because she observes people wanting meaning as an unchangeable fact. While there is no grand reason for meaning, she suggests that we can create value through what we do in our life. In her work, Wolf constructs a framework on how to obtain meaning in one’s life. I will examine her view, then critically discuss the positive attributes and the shortcomings. Wolf does a sufficient job to outline a possible way to achieve meaning. However, I will argue that a definition for the meaningful life that does not include morality and happiness is not sufficient. Lastly, I will express the subjective and objective tension that weakens her stance.

The topic of whether or not suicide is lawful is very popular among both ancient and modern philosophers. Two of the most notable minds to opposing the issue include St. Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant. Both men come from different worlds separated by the centuries. Even though they both oppose lawful suicide; they approach the topic in differing ways. I will analyze both of their arguments, compare the similarities and differences, as well as provide my own though which I find to be most agreeable.

Immanuel Kant’s ethics on suicide demand that an individual does not have the right over when their life ends, I will be arguing against these philosophies. Suicide is viewed as an act that is not permissible whatsoever to Kant, because we as humans are subject to the wants of a higher being. Therefore, we do not have the free will of destroying and eliminating our bodies when the sole reason they were produced was for creating and living a full life (Infield). Although this sounds like a convincing argument, I believe that humans should not be subjected to the wants of a higher being. Many humans do not believe in a greater good and imposing this ideal on them is not permissible. Religion plays a large role in Kant’s ethics, and I find that to be unrealistic considering not everyone practices a religion. I will discuss why living for a higher being is not a suitable reason for continuing one’s life, if that is the only reason one holds back from committing this act. To be clear, I am not advocating that suicide is a respectable answer, however I believe that as iniquitous as it may be to take one’s life, it is not an act that can’t outright be disallowed. I will discuss why free will is such an important and applicable reason for why Kant’s philosophy on suicide is not realistic. I will also be focusing on Kant and his belief in The Categorical Imperative, and how his views of suicide contradict this moral guide.

“Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?” This quote, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, notes very clearly that suicide may be justifiable in certain situations, but society generally doesn’t define this type of act as suicide because of the stigma associated with the word itself. Suicide can be more than just killing oneself over emotional distress; it can include honorable suicide, and euthanasia, which all have further reaching implications especially when analyzed throughout history.

The debate upon suicide is between the morality and circumstances of suicide. One side, philosophers’ view that it is a human’s right to control his or her life including ending it. Opposing views accept that humans have the rights to their own

This isn’t me having some sort of crisis where all of a sudden I can’t bear to live anymore. The fact that there isn’t an exact point to living doesn’t necessarily mean that you should decide to stop living. Bangambiki Habyarimana says, “Don 't look for meaning in life. It was meant to be lived not understood.” So why should we spend our whole lives looking for something we cannot find?

Suicide does not show up in the Bible but there are a few cases of people who committed suicide like Judas. Scriptural writers neither denounce nor adulate those whom they recorded as having taken their own lives (Gearing et al. 2009). The perspective of suicide as a sin rules current Christian states of mind over the different denominations like Catholics, Baptists, and Protestants. The sin of suicide is likened with different types of taking life, for example, abortion and murder (Maris et al. 2000). When a person dies, he/she aces judgement by

Do you ever find yourself glaring at the sunrise because it is a reminder that you have to live another day? Well, whether you like it or not you are here, and you have to live life. For others, living another day is a privilege, but there are people out there who sees this as a curse, a reason to mourn, and honestly who can blame them? With the cruelty of this world and the impeccable pressure of life, I will not be surprised if we all just kill ourselves, but we should not, because killing ourselves does not solve anything, in fact it can make situations worse. We were all brought up with the notion that the act of suicide is wrong because it goes against our moral norms. In the church, found in her commandments, it is stated that we should not kill, including ourselves, and in some countries they have laws that goes against the freedom to commit suicide, yet there are still thousands who kill themselves every year, ending their lives forever. I am here to tell you that this has

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on average there are 121 suicides per day, making this the 10th leading cause of death in the US. Many people when they hear of suicide they automatically associate it with sin and something that should not be allowed. However, I argue that suicide should be morally acceptable. Before I start let’s define suicide, according to the Merriam-Webster this is “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntary and intentionally.”