A manifesto for the right to painless suicide: A pro-choice essay on human dignity by Jean Liberté

Author:Jean Liberté [Jean Liberté]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-08T07:00:00+00:00

Blaming paradoxically means encouraging suicide. To start with, enduring others' scorn or condescension is an altogether unpleasant experience that may lead one to nurture suicidal tendencies. As we crave love and recognition, we strive to exist in others' lives and suit the way they want us to be. It is tantamount to « persevering in our being » to quote Spinoza. The more we stick to the way others want us to be, the more fulfilling it is, that is by being like this or like that.

It follows that if I am defined as hardworking, I will strive to live up to this definition, and conversely, if I am defined as lazy, I will strive to be lazy, since in either case, those ways fulfil me. Only philosophical insight will help us prove that wrong : I am or I am not, but I am not more or less ! I do fully exist : there is no such thing as living more or less. Existence knows no degrees of existing : there is no middle-ground.

Spinoza's « persevering in one's being » is misleading actually for it supposes two reifying errors which are morally devastating.

> We have a nature which defines us and which we cannot escape.

> We do not exist more or less.

For instance, a warrior cannot escape his warrior's nature no matter if he is much or not much of a warrior ; the same goes for a pen : a pen is a pen rather than more or less a pen. Likewise, a coward is a coward no matter how significant his cowardly act has been deemed. There is no choosing one's definition and the less we stick to our definition, the less dignified we are.

If one applies this erroneous and distorted « reasoning » to suicide and those who wish to commit suicide, everything gets terrifying : the one that wishes to die will be called « suicidal » as if such an adjective defined him. The suicidal person who does not commit suicide will never fully agree with his nature. It is only by committing suicide that he will realize that he is fully living : to stick to others' definition, he must die.

Malraux, in La Voie Royale, got it right : « the one that commits suicide is after an image that he made of himself » : one commits suicide only to feel one exists » ; such a statement is too radical, for many people kill themselves to end intolerable suffering. To die because one wishes to live : weird, isn't it ?

Those who tacitly ban painless suicide and unashamedly blame suicide might quite rightly be blamed for encouraging suicide. But for this tacit ban, one might assert that suicide could be avoided in quite a few cases.

In order not to fall prey to the social trap of the suicidal identity, let us bear in mind this Sartre quote from l'Etre et le Néant (Being and Nothingness) : « I am not what I am.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.