SUICIDE

• Is the direct, willful destruction of one’s own life. It is direct insofar as the primary object of the act itself is the killing of oneself; it is willful insofar as it is deliberate, voluntary, and intentional; and it is destructive insofar as the means of terminating one’s own life is, more often than not, violent, brutal, or very harsh.

SUICIDE VIS A VIS EUTHANASIA

• Destructive and violent termination of one’s life

• Presupposes one’s healthy physical condition

• A sudden interruption or destruction of the life process

• An easy and painless death; for medical reasons

• Presupposes incurable ailment or terminal condition

• An easy, painless, quiet acceleration of imminent or certain death

CONTEXTS OF SUICIDE

• For Kamikaze pilots of World War II , it was a heroic act of sacrifice for their own country.• Japanese Shintoists believed that

one who died for one’s country became one of the deities.

• Roman Catholic Irishmen have committed suicide through self-immolation or self-starvation in order to achieve a political objective.

• Buddhist monks burned themselves to death in protest against tyranny in Vietnam.

GENERAL REASONS FOR COMMITTING SUICIDE

1. Personal: may include (1) misfortune and frustration in love or marriage; (2) parental indifference or apathy towards one’s boyfriend or girlfriend; (3) in-law problems; (4) failure in an examination; (5) loss of honor and integrity; (6) nervous breakdown

2. Financial: include (1) poverty and impoverishment, and (2) great loss of money or collapse in business venture.

3. Social and political: include (1) failed coup d’etat, and (2) protest against man’s inhumanity to man

THE CONS OF SUICIDE

THE PROS OF SUICIDE