Hume on Suicide - Essay Example

Hume on suicide Introduction Life is the most mysterious thing that humans can face. It is given to us and we have no opportunity to choose to be born or not to be born. The question is if humans have a right to get rid of their life or if a woman, who gifted this life, can take it away? If person kills him/herself, it is called a suicide, if someone takes the life of another person, it is called a murder. From day to day you can hear in the news about many cases of suicide among people of different age and the question is if these acts can be considered as a human’s right to be a master of his/her life, or as a crime. Nobody can state for sure, if a person have right to commit a suicide and to get rid of the dearest that was given to him. There is an philosophy that suicide is a method to demonstrate to the God the power of humans in a short and strict form. The issue is very controversial and was discussed by many famous philosophers. David Hume is among them. He devoted the whole essay “Of Suicide” to this issue. The reception of Hume's views The unique and controversial idea presented by Hume is that there is no person in this world who will commit suicide if he considers his life to be valuable. Thus, according to Hume, a person has a right to commit a suicide: “to restore men to their native liberty, by examining all the common arguments against suicide, and showing that, that action may be free from every imputation of guilt or blame; according to the sentiments of all the ancient philosophers” (Essays on suicide and the immortality of the soul. p.3). If to consider this statement from the point of view of social issues and values, the supporters of it can be accused in the misrepresentation of God and religion as well as in immorality. Children are taught in school that only morally weak individuals can commit suicide as suicide is the easiest way to solve the problem. “Hume’s recent critics read him differently, however, as if his observations concerning the fragility of human life are intended to show (positively) that we have a low value in God’s eyes” (Holden 2005, p.203). Hume states that there are several stages before committing a suicide. A person usually feels disorder and weakness, apathy and stupidity (Muller, 1997). These are signals for the mind that it is time to finish the life. Not all the people in the modern society would agree with Hume on the aspect. According to him, each person who has such problems is a potential suicide committer. Nobody will deny that we always can find a reason for stress and problems are waiting for us every second, thus it is a usual thing to feel such symptoms. Hume also underlined that changes that could occur in life, would bring the unexpected results for sure. Thus, the question is if the changes only push to suicide or vice versa. Let’s imagine person who is about to commit a suicide. He or she is in the last stage and suddenly the fortune proposes him or her a present, winning the lottery. It is interesting whether this can serve as a reverse point for a person and if it can make him change his mind. Philosophy, religion and everyday life Holden states: ”Hume presents arguments for the moral permissibility of suicide that could readily be generalized to license any action, murder not excepted. But no one thinks that murder is permissible, so we have a clear reductio of Hume’s reasoning” (Holden 2005, p.190). However, Hume does not consider a suicide to be a murder. According to Hume, it is unfair to consider the suicide to be a crime. He considered material and animal world and comes to the conclusion that all the things inevitably return to their basic state. This argument is also very controversial. Politicians and the law as well as religion dictate what the citizens should do and how they should behave in the society. In reality each country has its law and unwritten rules of behavior, the picture of the world, which form the mentality (Flew, 1986). Basing on these rules, we decide on what is bad and what is good, what is allowed and what is not allowed. Hume is right stating that the suicide can be considered a crime if a person who committed suicide is not valuable for the society and does not owe anything to it. A person can not be punished if he is dead, he chose punishment for himself by taking the most precious thing that was given to him. No one knows what person can expect from life. Maybe the next second will turn his life in the quite different direction. Do we have a duty to God not to commit suicide? Philosophy is the source of understanding the human nature. Philosophers try to find the truth about the origin of humans and the sense of our life. Of course not all of us consider the world from the philosophical point of view. However, every person at least once in his life turns into a philosopher and asks himself what life means for him. Not everyone can find the answer, someone seeks for the sense of leaving, and someone just lives. Religion plays a very important role. The majority of people think that God is a creator, the actions can be done only after his approval. It is important not to forget that when David Hume was creating his philosophy, the main goal was not to convince people that they should commit suicide, but to prove that religion should not rule the life of the people. It is not the religion that decides our destiny, it is we who decide what to do in our lives. “Whether or not Hume had such wide strategic intentions in “Of Suicide,” it should be clear that the essay squares nicely with his broader critique of the pre-tensions of natural religion. In addition, it should (I hope) be clear that the recent charges of logical blundering are misplaced. Hume’s main arguments against the theological objection cannot be generalized to legitimate any arbitrary action, nor do they trade on un-Humean incompatibilist assumptions about moral responsibility, nor do they advance invalidly from purely descriptive premises to a normative conclusion” (Holden 2005, p. 206). In the modern society we already have a balance between our will and the power of religion, thus the philosophy of Hume is relevant for his time, but not for ours. Conclusion We know that no matter who was a creator or how you call him, you just have to be grateful for the opportunity to live. People should value their lives. It is the greatest gift and the greatest sacrament. If a person has difficult circumstances he or should not decide if to live or not to live. A suicide is not a way out, because death is inevitable. Suicide happens due to the lack of attention, when people forget about each other and concentrate only on their own affairs. We are not just machines, love and care can solve a lot problems and prevent a lot of deaths. References Muller, Jerry Z 1997, Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present, Princeton University Press Flew, A 1986, David Hume: Philosopher of Moral Science, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Holden, T 2005, Religion and Moral Prohibition in Hume’s “Of Suicide” Hume Studies Volume 31, Number 2: 189 - 210. Hume, D, Addison, J, Rousseau, J 1799, Essays on suicide and the immortality of the soul. Strasburgh, Levrault, Printer and Bookfeller, 1799   Read More