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Philosophical Perspectives on Suicide

Paolo Stellino

Philosophical Perspectives on Suicide Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein

Paolo Stellino Nova Institute of Philosophy Universidade Nova de Lisboa LISBOA, Portugal

ISBN 978-3-030-53936-8    ISBN 978-3-030-53937-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53937-5 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

According to Baruch Spinoza, “a free person thinks about death less than anything, and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life” (Ethics, IV, 67). Writing a book on the philosophy of suicide does not necessarily mean to meditate on death. This is what I tried to explain— often with no success—to all those friends and colleagues that in recent years kept asking me why I had chosen to work on such a gloomy subject. Of course, I could have reminded them of Camus’ well-known opening words of The Myth of Sisyphus: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” But the fact is that whereas I am not persuaded by Camus’ claim, I am truly convinced that meditating on suicide means, to a great extent, meditating on fundamental questions that directly concern life, not death. Among others, these questions are: How do we conceive our obligations to society, friends, and family? Which is the set of moral values according to which we choose to orientate our life? Which is the value that we give to our autonomy and freedom? Is this value non-negotiable? And how do we conceive dignity? Is it a “property” that, in specific situations, can