Comparing Views On Suicide And Immanuel Kant

There is one suicide in the world every 40 seconds, but the time you finish one page of this essay it will be another person gone, some might feel sad about it, some might not. Suicide and the morals behind it have been questioned by philosophers, phycologists and people everywhere. There are always two sides to it, if its moral or immoral. In this essay I will compare two essays, one by David Hume’s, who argues suicide is moral and Immanuel Kant who argues that suicide is immoral, and I will argue that Kant’s argument is the weaker one.

Hume starts off his essay philosophically, introducing suicide as his topic of discussion. In this essay he attempts to prove three main points, “that suicide is not a transgression of our duty towards God;

The world is filled with inanimate objects and at first they could appear to be useless, but they can be altered and modified to provide productive uses. However, when a man is gone and it leaves the earth, the earth still remains, rivers and trees are still there so it does not harm to nature itself even when we are gone. A house that is brought down is no more on itself than on the hands of god. It is states that lives of men depend on the same laws of the lives of animals. A man can die in the same way from consuming poison or getting attacked by an animal, it disturbs the effects of nature no matter how he dies, from animals or poison or his own hands. Some say suicide can disturb the laws of nature, but he rebuttals that doing anything can disturb the laws of nature even he flips a stone or cuts down a tree, it disturbs what was supposed to happened from when it was not flipped to when it is flipped. So committing suicide is not going to alter the course of nature anymore than if he kills a bear or if he kills

“Stoics say suicide is a peaceful death… he leaves the world, not because he is no longer happy in it, but because he disdains it.” (303) It was seen as heroic back then because it showed that the man who committed suicide does not belong to anyone but just himself. But committing suicide does not let us fulfil the purpose we have been put in this world for. We are under the commandment of God, and only God can say when we can leave.

It is our duty to take care of this life, but there are somethings that we can sacrifice our life for. Some people can care more about their destiny more than their life. Kant gives an example about innocent men who are accused of trearchy. It is more honorable if they die than live a life belonging or serving to someone.

We should not risk our life for materialistic things like money and goods, but it is okay to do so if you are doing it for the good of others. It is better to die honourably than live your life for others.

Looking arguments of Hume and Kant, I will argue against Kant’s