Talk:Philosophical views of suicide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This articile is the very definition of NPOV. Consiering the nature of the topic ( who knows, it might actually lead someone to suicide). I recomend we ammend it urgently.
I disagree, philosophically there are thought experiments that show possible reasons for suicide as a viable action... Not the least of which is the case of a prisoner in a Nazi death camp who knew he faced immanent death in a gas chamber, who cut his own throat with a shard of glass with the intent to end his life. He thought it would be better to have control over it than to be killed by someone else. The kicker is that he was found by a guard before he bled to death and sent to a hospital where he was treated, and was subsequently released to go free. The war had ended while he was in the hospital. So if he hadn't tried to commit suicide, he would have faced certain death. I don't think philosophy disputes the negative aspect of the mental disorders that usually cause suicide, so perhaps this article is needlessly tagged as NPOV. Philosopher Torin 19:34, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
Contents |
[edit] Natural Selection
Should the view of suicide as a form of Natural Selection be included in this or any related articles? It can be percieved as (beyond valid or invalid) a logical, philosophical or biological problem, and I do believe this is a topic that requires at least some debate.68.198.120.115 01:34, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
- If you can give a reference to a philosopher who wrote on this, it can be included. -- C mon 07:56, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Deletions
I deleted the bit on Japanese suicides because it wasn't really relevant. If more were added (i.e a philosophical analysis of suicide and honour) then maybe it could be put it.
[edit] =
I would like to see more mention of cultural antagonism to suicide as, on the whole, it does seem to just come down on the pro-suicide point of the balance. Perhaps something to encourage the reader to explore the notion that thoughts of suicide are symptomatic of a cause rather than a cause in itself.
- This is because the traditional view of suicide is one of religious immorality. Philosophy wants to at least explore the reasoning, and if it isn't very good, reject it. If philosophers don't want to advocate suicide they will (or should) come up with good arguments... and they do. Philosopher Torin 23:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
I think we can agree, this article is simply not within the meaning of the term "philosophy". PT's comments are correct -- standard BabyPhi lecture material, in fact.
In fact, a(n admittedly quick) look at many Wikipedia articles on aspects of suicide suggest the whole set of articles needs to be excised and replaced. They are all over the place, with no unifying thread, really. Different perspectives on the various aspects of suicide appear to be mixed indiscriminately. A strong bias against suicide seems generally in the ascendant, with no real exploration of this; the roots of this bias are part of any decent philosophical discussion. At the same time, any discussion has to get beyond such merely sociological, anthropological and psychological discussion, since none of them can possibly go beyond description to explanation.
The reference lists in the various articles are pathetic. Discussion of suicide, in EuroAmerican culture alone, goes back -- what? 2300 years at least? The "philosophical views" article doesn't even have a list of references; the list in the general suicide article is apparently derived from the reading list for a course in counseling (inherently biased).
In short, bag the whole lot, or at least the more general articles, then let's see if there are some people who will take on this -- agreed: Herculean -- chore properly? --djenner 15:24, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Cleanup
This needs cleanup and expanding. It's obviously biased at the moment. It needs more from philosophy greats such as Plato and Socrates and other classical philosphers. Some info can be obtained here [1]. Also, History of suicide contains some philosophy info that can probably be transferred here. Other suggestions and to-dos are welcome. Gflores Talk 20:08, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Format change
What do you guys think about changing this article into sections of philisophical thought instead of just for and against, because some views are not that simple. For example, one section would be Utilitarian's view on suicide, another Kantian view, etc. Kind of like the Religious views of suicide. This could be done in the move, which I support by the way. --Joe Jklin 15:43, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
- Since there was no opposition I'm going ahead with the change. Feel free to fix it up.--Joe Jklin (T C) 06:21, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Camus
I'm pretty sure that the text quoted is not from Camus' novel L'Etranger but from one of his theoretical works, perhaps The Myth of Sisyphus.
