The Altruistic Suicide : The Aspects Of Altruistic Suicide

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).

The thoughts of assisted suicide are very mixed. Some people believe that it is a great way to put terminally-ill patients out of the their pain and suffering. They see it as a way for a person to die with dignity after suffering from a painful disease. Others think it is beyond morally wrong for a doctor to intentionally end a patient’s life. They feel that a doctor should not have unnecessary deaths riding, on their shoulders the rest of their career. Assisted suicide goes way beyond the beliefs of medicine and is morally wrong in so many ways.

However, as Durkheim attempted to restrict this definition to suicide being actions intended to result in loss of life, many disagreed with him (3). He then decided to search for a new definition of suicide. Digging deeper, he filed through cases deemed suicide that included actions of heroism such as a father jumping in the path of a bullet for his son. Such cases reveal a situation in which death is not desired by the individual but is nonetheless an inevitable consequence of the actions taken. This sort of suicide, according to Durkheim, should be known by any other name under the same broad term. Suicide can be divided into smaller categories. The first subcategory defined by Durkheim is Egoistic Suicide. An individual who commits a suicide of this distinction is considered to feel detached from society and thus separated from life’s meaning. He further explains by saying, a society with a focus on human interaction and involvement produces a value on the individual’s existence and contribution. If the society lacks human interaction and involvement, a low value is placed on an individual’s existence and contribution. Thus, Egoistic Suicide occurs when an individual has placed a low value on

Durkheim’s theories and work on suicide classified the phenomenon into four types; Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic and Fatalistic (Ritzer Pg 200-202). Durkheim’s concept of social integration ties into egoistic suicide as it

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.

In the study of philosophy, it is evident that there are notions that agree and disagree with each other. When we narrow down philosophical time periods, it is even more interesting to see how ideas conflict in such a short period of time. As we observe the period between Georg Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche, we are approached with an array of beliefs as religious philosophy is combined with non-religious philosophy. The undeniable aspect is that each concept can be adequately compared. In studying Georg Hegel, John Stuart Mill, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, it is evident that each takes a supreme stance on morality. Therefore, I propose the question, “Is it morally permissible to commit suicide”? By analyzing each philosophical approach to this question, each philosopher’s notion on the concept will be revealed.

After researching assisted suicide I have more questions than when I started. The definition of assisted suicide is very factual: suicide facilitated by another person, especially a physician, who organized the logistics of the suicide, as by providing the necessary quantities of a poison (The definition of assisted suicide 2016). After much research I have learned that assisted suicide is an option one has to make depending on their moral standards, will to live, and how they want to die rather than a factual process one can follow.

By applying the functionalist perspective to the issue of suicide, we will highlight the importance of shared social morals and bonds. “When rapid social change or other disruptive conditions occur, moral values may erode, and people may become more uncertain about how to act and about whether or not their life has meaning” (Kendall , 2014) . Suicide falls under

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

Yet, the increasing suicide rate continued, and even veterans with stable homes and psychological help committed suicide. This discourse between the veterans and society, was what Durkheim emphasized in his studies about suicide. Human beings are by nature more likely to be dissatisfied with what they possess. Because of this dissatisfaction, the individuals are left to their own devices. Initially, there were no external forces to regulate these individuals and their constant need for more. This only proved to be a source of torment for humans because their need is incapable of satisfaction. As time passed, this necessity for control overpowered the consistent want, and collective society as a whole started to assume responsibility. As humans submit to this pressure they soon become aware of the hierarchy of society, and soon enough becomes complacent with their social position. Their spirit may be tested, but the complacency as well as continuous public opinion, serves as a barrier to assure that they never reach too far. (appelrouth and Edles 2016). Veterans are different in this assertion, because the assumption of transitioning with ease is alive in modern collective society, causing a growing gap between complacency and order when they return back home. They are not pleased with their social

Durkheim argues that the suicide rate is a social factor that can be interpreted as an indicator for social solidarity within a society (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01114474).

Finally, we have Fatalistic suicide, which occurs in societies with high levels of social regulation. This is only briefly discussed in Durkheim’s work, as he saw Fatalistic suicide, “as a rare phenomena in the real world.� (I1) An example might be someone with an overregulated and difficult life, like a slave.

Kevin Briggs is a retired California Highway patrol officer, who spent much of his years “patrolling the southern end of Marin, county which includes the Golden Gate Bridge” (Briggs).As many may connote this bridge with much positivity such as, to have a great view of San Francisco, others may connote it as the bridge that took their loved one . This bridge has been used numerous times for a suicide attempt. Suicide according to Vernon J. Geberth, M.S., M.P.S., is defined as the intentional taking of one’s own life (Geberth.). At a recent Ted Convention, Kevin delivered his inspiring and courageous speech titled “The Bridge Between Suicide and Life”, which argues the many consequences of suicide and the lasting effects it has on their loved ones. One of the main topics Kevin mentions in his speech is the fact that suicide is preventable and it doesn’t necessarily need to happen. In the audience of Kevin’s TED Talk were women and men who may have faced suicidal thoughts and or currently suffering from the loss of a loved one due to suicide and even the general population that may not be experiencing none of the following but are simply just listening for future references.Rhetorically, Kevin conveys this argument through rhetorical approaches such as rhetorical questions, logical evidence and even personal experience.

Traditionally, suicide was thought to be a purely individual decision but French sociologist Emile Durkheim recognized that the phenomenon had a social dimension. He believed in the influence of society on the individual and that if anything can explain that relation, it is suicide. His use of the data of suicide, not specific cases and reports, to study the societal trends reveals his true subject of study: society as a whole and its role in the individual experience. Durkheim uses the study of suicide via the quantitative methodological approach as a tool to study society as a broader whole.

May and Schultzer said that individuals who execute themselves consider suicide to be the main outstanding answer for their issues. Individuals vary in their capacity to deal with the inconveniences that reason such edgy sentiments. Many think that it is hard to perceive and take care of individual issues in calm and requested way. Analysts May and Schultze trust this failure to adapt might be associated with natural and synthetic uneven characters. (Par.1)