Altruistic Suicide: Clarifying Duty

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Altruistic Suicide: Clarifying Duty in Altruistic Suicide

Suicide itself in modern western culture already has social stigmas associated with it. In fact, much of our culture has already formed preconceived notions of what suicide is, why it's performed and the internal reasons it occurs(e.g. Depression). Although parts of this may be true, Altruistic Suicide particularly contradicts with normal connotations society associates with suicide linked to depression(e.g. anomic suicide), due to its selfless nature. Granted that cases of Altruistic suicide can be selfless, other cases are martyrdom-based suicides(e.g. obligatory suicide) and it’s crucial that there is a distinction and to understand what the distinction is. Specifically, that is …show more content…

Through analysis of the previous two articles, a particular part of Leenaars et al.(2004) research is fundamental to understanding what the individual is in obligation to. They state, “What is central, as in all suicides, is the attachment, not to people per se,but as Zilboorg (1936) had shown, the attachment (identification) (Freud, 1917/1974) can be to any ideal—freedom being one.” (p.134). Implying that their duty is to an ideal, not a person, place or thing, but a belief they feel obligated to champion. This in the context of Obligatory Suicide, is distinguishing yet another subsection, claiming that attachment to a person, king, or god is not fully the obligation in which the individual commits suicide over. Instead, arguing this attachment or duty, that causes the suicide, is an attachment to an ideal such as, freedom, utopias, world peace or religious beliefs. In the context of Optional Altruistic Suicide, this would mean that the individual lacks this obligation to this attachment, therefore not meeting the specific criteria for Obligatory Altruistic Suicide. Not only do individuals who commit Optional Altruistic Suicide not have an obligation to an attachment as a differentiating criteria, but another key difference is Optional Suicide is supported in specific situations by the society around the individual, unlike …show more content…

Not only, would more data give both us and society a firmer understanding of Altruistic Suicide, but surely more subcategories would form underneath Altruistic Suicide subcategories themselves. Furthermore, this is even more of a reason to try to apprehend this topic, by having analytical exploration of its subjects. Below, an important takeaway from this analysis is listed. Being the stigma around martyrdom, along with understanding of “suicide bombers” and terrorism is a realm that some in the field of psychology choose to study, but not the vast majority. In reality, it appears to still be a socially taboo subject, halted by certain influences of western xenophobia, chauvinism,religious bias and presuppositions. Ultimately, Altruistic suicides are a prevalent form of suicide found in many cultures, not as an occurrence but a tradition. Therefore the continuation of unbiased empirical based evidence that not only clarifies, but distinguishes differences and informs of these differences is necessary. Not just for proper research, but to gain proper understanding to formulate prevention

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