The morality of suicide

July 04, 2024
4 mins
Philosophy

“Suicide is always wrong.”

It’s a nice sentiment, but is it true?

This is something that I’ve heard repeated from everyone I’ve talked to (granted, I don’t talk to a lot of people). It’s a laudible goal, but it seems like largely a knee-jerk reaction that largely falls under ethical emotivism more than anything else. When you think of suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem, something else that if often repeated, of course you’d condemn it. But can we really say that is always the case? In a situation where you have a premanent problem, is it fair to call the suicider “selfish” or is it selfish to expect them to persist in a nightmarish hellscape for the benefit of not having to really consider what they go through on a daily basis?

Consider an injured soldier

Let’s take a trip to the Vietnam War. Seargent Bosco was danger close to a napalm strike, and, unfortunanly, has sustained burns over a large percentage of his body (let’s assume that all his nerve endings have not been destroyed). He is in a lot of pain. He isn’t going to make it; not even if he is rolled into a hospital right now. As you walk into the zone, you see him, and the situation is clear. He asks you to put him out of his misery. I think most people, in this situation, would kill him.

He’s in pain. He’s not going to get better. What other choice do I have?

But is this situation fundamentally different than a suicidal person that has real problems? When I say “real problems,” I do not mean to discount anyone’s issues, only to differentiate between people with permanent problem and people that may feel that way, but it is not the case (think of someone whose girlfriend broke up with them).

Assisted suicide in the United States

It is my understanding that this is legal in some states in the US, but is highly controlled. I think you need to be terminally ill to be able to take your own life with the assistance of a doctor.

I’m not terminally ill. I do, however, suffer from a permanent, debilitating condition that confines me to a wheelchair. There is no cure. There is no treatment. Even if this were cured tomorrow, the damage is already done. You cannot regenerate was is already lost even if you were to stop its progression. My quality of life is low, and, even at its highest, I think the average person, if forced to live my life, would rather kill themselves. Granted, it’s all relative, but even so, I don’t see a high-quality of life, on my scale, as worth living.

Actually, I don’t think that’s true. With friends and family it probably would be worth living, but I guess I’ve become so disillusioned with achieving that that I’d rather give up.

I guess that’s the difference

If that could be achieved, the “permanent” problem wold see a solution. But in my mind, that’s akin to saying “If the fish could learn to walk, then it would be ok.” I don’t see a path to a world were I have friends, a wife, and children. Is it selfsh, then, for me to not work to that or is it selfish for someone to expect me to survive while trying to achieve a nearly impossible goal? I am become Sisyphus.

Where I’m at

I’m not at the point where I’m going to kill myself. I don’t kow if I’ll ever be there. I’ve drawn lines before, but I guess I’m a coward. But I’m also at the point where if I died in my sleep, I’d be fine with that. I’m certainly not going to take any drastic steps to prolong my life. I can’t tell you how much I’ve daydreamed about a hero’s death; charging a school shooter, pushing a baby out of the path of an oncoming train, etc. That way, I die, but I die while protecting someone that wants to live, that has a reason to live, people that care about them, and potential.

I think my dad would be the only person that would actually be affected if I died. My sister probably wold care too, but I t hink it would largely be in a performative way. Not that she would pretend to care, but rather that she would feel like she is supposed to care, and that would be the primary motive for caring. I also think that my dad, if I killed myself, would understand and know the decision was made rationally.