Arthur Schopenhauer and The Absurd Crime That Is Suicide

The assisted suicide debate has gone a little quiet as of late. But to me it has always seemed a little strange that there was even any debate at all? If we start from a place of property rights (if you think there is no such thing and I steal your car then you may change your mind just a little bit) then the only conclusion is that we own our own body and if we voluntarily wish to kill ourselves then who can -with any real authority – say nay?

I understand the argument that it would be dangerous if we could just kill people who are disabled or who are mentally ill, but if we apply libertarian principles such as the non-aggression principle (don't initiate violence against another for no reason) then those people who kill someone who is not within their 'right' mind will be violating that principle. So now you're thinking that not everyone thinks like me. True, but I don't think it would be hard to say that the person who wants to commit suicide must declare that and be assessed to be what we accept as being sane.
 

Who do the so-called authorities think they are telling people what they can and can't do with their own body? The great philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in his “On Suicide” essay (not to leave out my fellow Scot David Hume but I'm more familiar with Schopenhauer's thought) makes the point that if you find out that someone who you know murders someone then you feel “a lively sense of indignation and extreme resentment” whereas when you find out that someone you know has committed suicide then (in Schopenhauer's words) “you will be moved to grief and sympathy; and mingled with your thoughts will be admiration for his courage, rather than the moral disapproval which follows upon a wicked action.”
 

Now, I recommend the reading of Schopenhauer's full essay but even from these quotes we can see that to treat suicide as a crime is simply absurd! People have extremely different emotional reactions to a murderer or one who commits suicide. Now, I will go one step further than Schopenhauer and say that we should also legally protect people who willingly help someone who wants to commit suicide but can't for whatever reason.
 

Another fascinating point that Schopenhauer makes us aware of us that Christians are very much against suicide but did Jesus not voluntarily commit suicide himself? He was put to death but he knew it was coming and welcomed it. Also what about the many martyred Christians who knew they would be killed for their beliefs but somehow martyrdom and suicide aren't quite the same thing. Many people who kill themselves do so for their own philosophical beliefs just like the Christian martyrs. We should also not forget how the ancients thought of suicide, who can not be moved by the portrait of Socrates surrounded by his friends about to heroically drink the hemlock?

I would like to finish by again quoting the great philosopher who inspired this article Schopenhauer. He goes on to say in 'On Suicide' where he tackles the religious and legal issued surrounding our topic: “I am rather of opinion that the clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action which many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed; and to refuse an honorable burial to those who relinquish this world voluntarily. They have no Biblical authority to boast of, as justifying their condemnation of suicide; nay, not even any philosophical arguments that will hold water; and it must be understood that it is arguments we want, and that we will not be put off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal law forbids suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and besides, the prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a man who is not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for trying to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the attempt a failure.”

Greening Out - Libertarian Podcasts, Writings and News
http://www.greeningoutpodcast.co.uk

 

Arthur Schopenhauer - "On Suicide" Full text (Within "Essays on Pessimism")