Can suicide ever be a rationally considered logical alternative...?

Question

Most people contemplate suicide out of depression or fear or some extreme emotional condition. But what if someone wasn't being emotional, wasn't suffering any clinical or medical condition, and had simply spent a long time (months) evaluating the benefits and disadvantages, eventually reaching the conclusion that suicide was the most logical rational choice. Someone asked me this question the other day, and I didn’t have a ready answer. So, I'm wondering what others think.

Are there situations where it can all come down to a cost-benefit analysis, like any other personal or business decision? Can suicide ever be considered a rational logical decision?

To GeorgeD -- if you hadn't started your answer with a personal ad hominem attack, it probably would have ended up being selected as best answer.

Answer 1

I got here because I read your profile & this was a question I could answer.

I should have read through the other 54 posts before answering to get a feel to see if anyone else has the same feelings as I about this.

I did read the beginning of the 1st post & I hope you do not give him best answer if only because he insulted you

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary situation" is a quote often told to me because I am said to be suicidal, 5150's.

Well life is temporay nobody but nobody gets out alive, no one.

I can think of several reasons for example the kamikaze pilots or the suicide bombers inflict far more damage than the soldier for the amount of resouces expended.

In the pacific island in the not too distant past some would swim out to sea instead of staying on the island in times of famine. There are also other such cases where some of these people where betrothed to others and decided it would be better to end there lives this way than become a secound wife to person X.

On the last note I often say "Life goes on long after you wish it wouldn't ".

Now how you go about your cost benifit analysis could determine whether you or the person contemplating shedding there mortal coil (sp?) The suicide bomber , the altuistic death ( better me than my child grand child etc ) or the person whos money runs out at date X and life will really suck after that.
Or other reason that I have not thought of yet. (leaving an inheritance or debt)

Each will have a different reason for ending their life and will have to come to terms with it then.

The long , and hopefully very long, list of pluses and minues being checked off to determine that this is the best alternative of many possible would be a hard chioce to make because all living beings want to continue living. It is just part of our DNA, (soul for those religious individuals who do not believe in DNA)

I have been told that suicide is an unforgivable sin. That is because God gave you this life and by rejecting it (killing yoursef) you are rejecting God. These same people do not seem to have much () problem with me killing others in the name of the Government ( a very little problem but basically told me to get over it [killing others is OK but killing yourself isn't] )

I hope this is not you we are talking about. You have a law degree I think ,don't you?


I hope the last sentence gets me considered for 'best answer'

Wishing you a long, happy & possibly prosperous life.

Answer 2

NO to suicide... NO NO NO...(sigh)

I think the answer is yes. If someone wasn't being emotional or suffering a deathly illness, that person could still rationally find suicide the most beneficial answer.

the equation to justify the suicide would have to be completely devoid of certain human emotion. (not all emotion...)

Example: In high school, i knew a girl whose father committed suicide because his family was in financial ruin. He was a cop, and thought that his pension would help his family. EEke, they found out it was a suicide, so the family received nothing, however, if he had planned it better the equation could have turned up a financial benefit to his family. My friend was so emotionally injured that another formula, which evaluates emotional injury, would prove that the cost benefit would not logically provide suicide as the best answer. However, if a man had a child that did not know him (but he knew the child needed money), a job that paid pension to the children of those that died on the job, and knew how to plan the suicide to look like a murder THEN the cost benifit would bring money to his child without excessive emotional injury.

I can't think of an exact formula because it would depend on the motivation of the suicide.

FORTUNATELY-- We value life more than any other commodity. THat's why people are so emotionally charged with their answers. We don't want a depressed person to kill himmself/herself; we want that depressed person to find happiness. Even in other cultures where in suicide is more acceptable; Suicide is still a heart breaking loss. (from what I know--but i don't know all cultures)

So one could possibly make a formula. However, human emotion would disallow it from being acceptable. IT would be too horrible for a formula to exist that could prove that I could better benefit the world by killing myself. I think any formula would be missing the human heart, making it flawed.

Answer 3

Yes, suicide is the obvious answer logically for most people from a certain perspective.

It removes the need for: studying, taxes, paying bills, working a job you don't like, growing old, bad health, fear, anger, depression and much more. This is because nearly everything in life sucks because of the greedy 1%.

Having said that it is important to stay alive for family or loved ones (if you have any). You leaving will crush them dearly.

Also, we don't know what happens after we die and a part of me believes in the Robin Williams movie "What Dreams May Come" that suicides go to a lower level of existence after a suicide.

I would say if you decide to commit suicide, try kneeling and praying to God for some signs either way and be patient and wait for an answer. Previously when I was suicide God answered and I am here today.

Answer 4

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RE:
Can suicide ever be a rationally considered logical alternative...?
Most people contemplate suicide out of depression or fear or some extreme emotional condition. But what if someone wasn't being emotional, wasn't suffering any clinical or medical condition, and had simply spent a long time (months) evaluating the benefits and disadvantages, eventually...

Answer 5

Suicide is death and there is no guarantee there is "life" at the next step in existence. Suicide is a quick way out, which some people would describe as a coward's way out. But except for a person who is depressed and not rationally thinking, I do feel that people with a terminal medical condition or one that is debilitation and will eventually cause the person to become a non-entity like dementia or take away all their independence like ALS, have the right to consider assisted suicide.

Answer 6

Wow!! What a heavy question!! How did you handle it??
Dying to know!! How would I handle a question like that? Hmm...?? I don't think it's rational... I don't think it's logical.... and knowing what I know about the bible, it's a very long term decision... not just for the here and now.

I've been emotionally upset enough to consider it myself, but I've never really hoped that my life would end... just my problems.

So, I guess I would need more time to investigate this from the perspective that you have given us here. But, I can't help wondering how you dealt with this person.

My son and his girlfriend also considered this as a choice, but both of those were emotionally charged too.. and the way I dealt with it is just calming them down and assuring them that this too would pass and that I did not want them to take it any further.

So I'll be looking into this for many reasons....
Seriously considering your question...
And I hope time wont run out on me for answering your question.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Answer 7

I just had to answer this one as I have been going through this very same problem for about three months now. The problem (or situation) began when the last "love of my life" decided to leave two years ago. I went through a depression, sought help and recovered. But recent months have found me with very little joy and very little hope in my life. So it would seem that I have re-entered my depression. I am functional...that is I can get up in the morning, on time, go to work and work a full day (my full days are usually a 10 hour work day). But I have no one to come home to. I have very few friends, and they have busy lives. I am not invited to social events, my phone rarely rings, and on the weekends when I don't work I could go the entire weekend without speaking to another living soul (with the exception of a hello to the checkout person at the grocery store). I am only 49 years old, and I think that if I have to live my life like this until God chooses to take me that I will go completely insane.

Now I have tried meeting people, joining clubs, going to church, taking classes at a local college, joined an exercise club. I do these things to surround myself with others. But still, I have no one who calls just to say, how are you doing?

So yes, I have thought about it these past three months. I have thought about it a lot. But logically it still does not make sense. Because it would be quitting. Pure and simple quitting, and I am not a quitter.

So there you go. My opinion. Very straight forward and very truthful.

Answer 8

i have thought long and hard about this question in my life long before i ever saw your post.

i believe that suicide should be considered a rational, logical decision based upon one's own soul searching, life experience and decision.

not everyone has a "good" life. not everyone has a "happy" life. not everyone has the financial alternatives to change their lives. not everyone has the family and/or friend support in their lives. there are so many people who don't understand this concept or have never had to experience anything like it ~ they cannot comprehend how someone would rather "check out" than go on with the way things are.

maybe it is a health reason. maybe they are in chronic pain ~ physically and/or emotionally. maybe it is because they've been abused all their life and they are internally battered and bruised beyond repair. maybe they can't trust. maybe to wake up and face it all another day is just too much. how long does someone have to go through that? a year? two years? 10 years? 30 years?

any of those things could be considered a cost-benefit analysis. perhaps a person does not have the funds to continue to seek medical intervention.

it is certainly plausible that someone just doesn't want to "be" any longer. why not let them make that decision on their own.

Answer 9

Well, most people don't look at the world in such a negative way. If you think about it, anyone in this world would decide that logically death is better than living another day.

Someday all of your parents, uncles, aunts, brothers & sisters will die. Some of your children may die. The world may see a major disaster, you may experience some horrible accident which leaves you a veggie. How depressing is this? However our brains are equip to fight off all of these logical and truthful things and to let us be hopeful in the future and what it brings. Our ignorance is our very will to live.

Now, someone normal would not decide to kill themselves as a logical decision based on cost-benefit or in-depth analysis. A normal person should have this will to live and hope for a better future. If someone doesn't have it then something is wrong with their brain. The 'happy' chemicals are in short supply because they seeing too much of the world with open eyes.

Answer 10

Absolutely. One can think rationally about the pros and cons of the situation, and decide to commit suicide.

Check out the book "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby, and the movie "The Last Life in the Universe" - both of those have exactly that situation being played out.

For a real life situation where this happened - (and I can only go off speculation and what information has trickled out) - Ernest Hemingway committed suicided after carefully thinking of the pros and cons - and decided that taking his own life was a more dignified, graceful way to part with this world.