The Fundamental Unfairness of Suicide
Suicide is a topic that has the ability to illicit powerful emotional reactions and charged opinions. Simply defined as the act of killing oneself, suicide can be considered anything but simple, especially if you ask a philosopher (Merriam-Webster). For centuries, academics and generational thinkers have developed theories to illustrate how we should ethically consider the concept of suicide and those who chose to commit it.
The divergence in opinion that can routinely be found in one philosophical work centered on suicide to any another work illustrates the complex ethical dilemma that suicide truly poses. In the eyes of many, suicide is a moral act and basic right that can be ethically justified, while
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Suicide is a rejection of the many freedoms of life, and instead of evading unanswerable questions revolving around if and why our lives have meaning, we should live our lives to the fullest in an effort to answer our own impossible questions (Aronson).
I agree with Camus that life is worth is worth living for each and every individual.
To me, the Bushido code and any form of ritual suicide seem foreign and quite crazy. I think it is impossible to die honorably by committing suicide. Ancient samurai code is obviously obsolete and outdated, I empathize with modern Japanese people who suffer consequences from this twisted way of thinking, and I find the astonishingly high suicide
rates in Japan to be tragic. I believe that there are always reasons that life will be worthwhile, even if these reasons seem negligible or must be sought out.
While Camus does an excellent job explaining why suicide is a poor choice by juxtaposing suicide with choosing to continue on with life, I think Camus fails to fully explain why suicide is morally wrong. In fact, I believe Thomas Szasz explains why suicide is wrong, despite his intentions to convince the reader otherwise. Szasz
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Works Cited
Aronson, Ronald. "Albert Camus." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 10 Apr. 2017. Web. 13 Apr.
2017. <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/#SuiAbsHapMytSis>.
Carey, Benedict. "Dr. Thomas Szasz, Psychiatrist Who Led Movement Against His Field, Dies at 92." The
New York Times, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/health/dr- thomas-szasz- psychiatrist-who- led-movement- against-his- field-dies- at-92.html>.
Cruickshank, John. "Albert Camus." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Dec.
2016. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Camus>.
Louie, Sam. "Asian Honor and Suicide." Psychology Today, 30 June 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minority-report/201406/asian- honor-and- suicide>.
"Merriam-Webster Definition of Suicide." Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.