Is there a "natural right" to commit suicide?

Question

I think there is an inalienable right to do so. If you have any idea what I mean by a natural and inalienable right, please answer.

I think the right is natural and inalienable. I don't think it can be separated from an individual without enslaving them. I am asking as a philisophical question and not due to personal interest in the act.

Answer 1

Your'e capable of committing suicide, but it is not a right. If you turn the argument around: "Is there a natural right to be born" the answer is definetley no as so many sperms do not make it to the egg. It means that life itself is not a right you had before you were given it. This implies that it also is wrong to commit suicide. i know this is bogging down to moral philosophy, and these natural rights cannot be defined precisley, but the above argument seems to give a hint about your rights given by nature o god or whatever you believe.

Finally Kants categorical imperative would ask if everyone else utilize this right, would that be desirable? Is it still a right then? Different philosophical schools can give different answers. this is not science.

Answer 2

No. It isn't natural. Other species don't do it. The instinct for survival is natural. You don't have a "right" to take any life, including your own. It goes against nature. It is a horrible mistake. A tragedy. It is never an answer. Anyone who does so creates a void in the world & causes terrible pain to all those who know & love them. It is also the most cruel thing you can do to yourself. No matter how hopeless someone feels, it is never ever the answer. No matter how terrible life seems at the moment, it can get better. It makes no sense to end life before letting it run its course when it may have become happy & fulfilling if given time.

Life is meant to be survived. Choosing not to survive is unnatural and wrong. I don't think that people who choose suicide are evil, they may not realize that they did wrong -- so blinded by pain & despair they could see no other way out. But it is not right & should never be considered.

Answer 3

Suicide should be a person's right if they are a legal adult and are totally aware of the consequences.. I am so sick of hearing "don't u care about those u leave behind and how much it will hurt them".. I C it like this. If those people really loved me, they would want my life to be over so I wouldn't be suffering anymore.. People have no idea what it is like to always be in pain..physically and emotionally..to always feel alone and that u will never be of use to anyone.. i feel this way on anti depressants.. It is NOBODY"S right to tell us we can't die. As a Christian I do understand that only GOD has a right to take a life but I also know that anyone who is constantly suffering has a right for that to end..

Answer 4

Suicide is the last avenue of choice, the last resort that one has in any power-relation: the ability to REFUSE even the worst commands. "Do X or... fine, imprisonment, torture, death". Without this last stand, preventing the imprisoned from this protest, human action is no longer possible. The society that makes suicide an impossibility (not only illegalizing it, but dominates one's abilty to perform it despite the rule) has also corrupted all value. No longer would any person's voice matter, for their conviction has no basis-- you can only resist with discomfort, resist by wasting one's time. And we are experts at silencing despair, contrary to violence on the body, which is already silent.

The individualism of the west is a well-established ideal. Suicide violates that ideal. We are greedy for life, even if life is deferred to an afterlife -- and we must bear guilt and suffering to find our bliss. To question life in the face of suffering we regard as a weakness, and point out those that have it worse-- as if that were a consolation. And while life is the condition on the possibility of meaning, an absurd life, a life of intractable pain does not secure meaning either, but dissolves the value of the world. The western advice, to bear the heaviest weights is a dishonorable tradition. It was not long ago that Socrates drank poison rather than live a life of the slightest ignominy. And we find him in the highest level of Dante's hell, an auspicious place for a heathen. Suicide for a reason is there in our ancestry, in our songs of nobility -- those who fought to preserve the world, even at the cost of their life.

To live in dishonor, to live meekly as a slave, to compulsively hold onto life as the highest value is myopic. Our selves are embedded in a world. We are not self-sufficient, a single truth cannot be isolated in an individual. To forsake suicide is nothing less but to condemn ourselves to a changeless world that accepts misery and illness, which makes the painful and absurd a value to be endured; and thus we live not to live well, but to merely cope, to wait, to find new ways to perpetuate our own sado-masochism.

Answer 5

Killing oneself is not a natural instinct. In fact, just the opposite is true. It goes against the regular tendencies of all living things. Therefore, if someone wants to voluntarily end their own life, it would be incumbent upon those around the person to intervene until 'natural' thought processes can be restored. Therefore, I believe it is not a "natural right", as you phrased it, but an abnormal thought process which needs to be realigned.

Answer 6

well, im gonna try not to go all religious on you cuz i know you people hate that, but think about this...

it is wrong to kill someone, do you agree? its just not right. not natrual

would you kill someone just because they wanted to die??? just because they were upset???

everyone has a natrual right to life, its just unfair to take anyones life, and that includes yourself.

if you were to kill anyone, you would be taking away a person that someone loves. you do not have an inalienable right to take the life of somebody's loved one and put them through such pain. do you know what its like to loose a loved one??? you know what, dont answer that...

i dont care how awful it seems, there are always options, other than suicide

ooooooh, you people are what keep me up late at night crying...

Answer 7

Look up the word inalienable. It is way too absolute word to use for a very subjective idea.

What you have is an opinion, which you have a right to do.

Suicide is the most selfish way to die.....you forget those who live without you.

Take life as it comes and you will die when it is your time to die.

Just imagine all the bodies cluttered around with all the people with their "inalienable right" to end their lives. Dead bodies in cars, at the mall, on the streets, in class rooms, in courts, in jail, in swimming pools.......etc. Gosh it would be gruesome

Answer 8

It is against the law to take the life of someone. That includes our self. Most people cannot fathom taking their own life. It is contradictory to the instinct of survival. It takes an incredible amount of courage and an iron will to actually deliberately cause death to our own body, since we are conditioned to resist death at almost all cost. Yes, you have the right to commit suicide. If someone wants to exercise it, who can stop them? But, it is never acceptable, and traumatizes those who are left behind.

Answer 9

I agree that it is a selfish act, and why not wait until your time to leave does come as it does for all without any help. we can not stay longer than out appointed time. only our words and actions live on in the mind of those our life does touch. suicide is selfishness, . we have reasoned life itself to be a death sentence, we are all in it. some try to break out through suicide and the rest leave from external growth and preasures. and the rest, well, we go when we have served our alloted time here on earth.

Answer 10

i think a better question is, why rush it? you're a mortal being, and if your inner turmoil is so unbearable that you feel suicidal, you should have enough courage to change your life, or your attitude, and see how that goes, and if its not working, then try even harder.

i mean, in some ways, we need suicide as an option to help us choose to live i think, but not much more than we need death for the same reason.