Understanding Suicide: A Historical and Ethical Perspective
This comprehensive analysis explores the complex issue of suicide from ancient to modern times. Dr. Margaret Battin from the University of Utah dives into societal attitudes toward suicide, highlighting varying cultural views, from ancient traditions like Jain Sallekhana to modern ethical debates concerning physician-assisted suicide. The discussion references a variety of influential thinkers such as Hippocrates, Socrates, and Nietzsche, alongside critical timelines that shape our contemporary understanding of this sensitive topic.
Understanding Suicide: A Historical and Ethical Perspective
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Presentation Transcript
Suicide: A Complex Issue Dr. Margaret Battin University of Utah battin@utah.edu
Simplified Suicide • Teen suicide • Always bad
Timeline: 2000 BCE - 450 BCE Approve Sallekhana 13thKhanda Jain Tradition Preventing old age Hebrew Bible and Apocrypha Hippocratic Corpus 2000BCE 450BCE Sophocles Upanishads Egyptian Didactic Tale Euripides Confucius Isa Violent suicide Disapprove
Trends • Situational • Self sacrifice (several) • Old age (Ancient Greeks) • Impassioned action vs. Contemplative movement to the next life (Jain) vs.
Hippocratic Corpus • The Oath • Actual Practice • About Maidens “…I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan…” -Hippocratic Oath ?
Timeline: 450 BCE – 150 CE Stoics Responsible (Socrates) Approve ? Livy Seneca Josephus Plato Martyrdom ≠ Suicide? Chrysippus Interpretation? 450BCE 150 CE 0 Justin Martyr Ignatius Aristotle The New Testament Without good reason Disapprove
Trends • All over the place
Stoics • Chrysippus’s 5 reasons • Commanded to do so by a higher authority • To avoid being forced to do shameful things • Serious illness • Poverty • Dementedness • Seneca: Wise man’s decision
Ignatius “ …I shall willingly die for God… I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts… Then I shall truly be a disciple of Christ…” “ …May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for me; and I pray they may be found eager to rush upon me…and not deal with me as with some, whom, out of fear, they have not touched. -Ignatius of Antioch But if they be unwilling to assail me, I will compel them to do so.”
Timeline: 150 - 1300 Approve Preserving Virginity Self-invited martyrdom Martyrdom? 150 1300 Angela of Foligno Henry de Bracton Aquinas Ambrose Augustine The Quran al-Bukhari Disapprove Catholic position henceforth
Trends • Christians become increasingly negative • Exceptions • Martyrdom: Suicide or something else?
Timeline: 1400 - 1750 DaidojiYuzan (Samurai, Busido) Approve Glory of God (Christ) Thomas More ChikamatsuMonzaemon David Hume Cato 1400 1750 John Donne Martin Luther Immanuel Kant Cotton Mather Disapprove
Trends • Wide swings back and forth
Oral Cultures Many varied views that change over time
Timeline: 1750 - 1900 On the Influence of Passions Hindu Widow Approve Madame de Stael ??? Hara Kiri Nietzsche 1750 1900 John Stuart Mill Disapprove Reflections on Suicide
Early 20th Century:Emil Durkheim and Sigumund Freud • Suicide as a function of psychopathology • Suicide as a function of societal organization • The ethical issues seemed to be eclipsed by the notion that suicide is caused
Suicide as an Ethical Issue Reemerges • Many widely disagreeing opinions
Tactical Suicide • Kamikaze • Jihad
Suicide of Social Protest • SzmulZygielbojm protesting the extermination of Polish Jews • Buddhist monks and nuns protesting Vietnamese War
Physician Assisted Suicide It’s an ongoing issue or legal in all of these countries:
