Analysis of Suicide by David Hume Essay - 919 Words

Analysis of Of Suicide by David Hume I believe that no man ever threw away life, while it was worth keeping. In David Humes essay Of Suicide, the philosophical argument of justified suicide is pursued. However, the underlying argument focuses on the injustification of the government and society condemning and forbidding such an action and the creation of superstitions and falsehoods of religion and God. Hume argues that the last phases that a person goes through before taking his life is those of disorder, weakness, insensibility, and stupidity, and that those traits, when obvious to the mind, doom him to a death by his own decision. He states that no being in any facet of life can continue life when transferred to a†¦show more content†¦It could be argued then that those in the womb are not able to suffer neither pain nor happiness. Then take for example another opposite of the original argument. How would the rule follow if one were already in the final stages of a tormented life and suddenly won the lo ttery? If his misfortunes and tragedies in life were attributed to money, wouldnt he then be transferred again into a state of mind so different from the original? Would this cause him to take his own life, beforehand destined to recycle the condemning symptoms before suicide? Another point Hume discusses is the injustice in ruling suicide as criminal. He describes this point reducing all things to their basic nature in reality. #8230;two distinct principles of the material and animal world, continually encroach upon each other, and mutually retard or forward each others operations. In essence, what Hume is saying here is that man depends upon the inanimate, in ways of direction and hindrance, and the inanimate consequently is directed by man. Even thought the nature of the two principles is opposite, they are codependent. He applies this to the argument of suicide by showing that it cannot be criminal to disrupt the nature of ones life by taking it if it is not as equally di sruptive to alter the nature of other things. The example used is altering the path of a river. It disrupts the original natureShow MoreRelatedEssay on Steppenwolfs Decision to Live1250 Words   |  5 Pagescommitting suicide. He tries to justify taking his life with religious and philosophical rationales, but in the argument he finds that his life is worth living and suicide not a logical option. Sadly though, the novel provides little evidence beyond the Steppenwolfs own feelings as to why he cannot commit suicide. It is the intent of this paper, with some religious and philosophical references, to shed light on the reasoning behind the Steppenwolfs decision to live. 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