This is an ethical and creative paper which responds to David Hume’s essay “On Suicide”. It primarily pays attention to Hume’s argument on theology and suicide, and it provides a brief demonstration on what can be expected in my final capstone project. 

 

Suicide is a selfish, cowardly act that has severe, negative consequences. David Hume provides several arguments as to why suicide is justifiable in the eyes of God, society, and one’s self. Hume gives logical reasons as to why suicide is acceptable in terms of theology, however, he fails to take into account what is written in the Bible, and how suicide affects family members and friends. Because of these factors, I cannot agree with Hume’s position that suicide is justifiable.

Hume says that suicide is considered an infringement of our duties to three things, the first of which is God, he then provides reasons as to why suicide isn’t criminal in the eyes of God. But first, it should be noted that while Hume provides logical reasons as to why suicide doesn’t conflict with our duty to God, he fails to take into account what is written in the Bible and the Ten Commandments, which clearly states “Thou shalt not kill.” It is true that there are cases of justified killing in the Bible, like killing in war or for self-defense, but murder and suicide are strictly forbidden.  Hume’s first argument is that men are given the power, by God, to alter nature as much as they can. Altering nature includes the act of suicide, and Hume believes that suicide is justifiable because God has given us the power to do so. God has given us free will, and the ability to do practically whatever we please. We can choose to serve him and abide by his will, which is clearly written in the Bible, or we can choose to do what we think is right and infer that God will agree with our decisions. While we do possess the power to end our own lives, it is ultimately against his will and would be considered an act of defiance towards him. The Bible states “…fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). This quote clearly shows how it is the duty of mankind to follow the commandments and don’t disobey God.

Hume’s next reason as to why suicide isn’t wrong in the eyes of God involves the fact that everything that happens in nature and in the world happens because God wills it. If a stone falls towards one’s head, it falls there because God made it happen. Hume says that attempting to preserve one’s life, for example, by avoiding the falling stone, is just as wrong as attempting to destroy one’s life. He writes, “Suppose that the disposal of human life is up to God alone, so that anyone who commits suicide is encroaching on God’s rights. In that case, acting for the •preservation of one’s life would be just as criminal as acting for its •destruction” (22). This portion of Hume’s theory is entirely incorrect because God gifted us with free will for this exact reason. The purpose of free will is to allow us to make our own decisions so we can live our best life in the light of Christ. Preservation of one’s life is acceptable in God’s eyes because he gave us free will to do so, but suicide is not acceptable because he gave the gift of life, and it is not up to man to take that gift away because it is ultimately against his will. Since God is the one who gives life, he is the only one who can decide when or how a persons life should end.

Another reason that Hume presents is described with this quote, “It is impious, says the modern European superstition, to rebel against God by ending our own life. So why isn’t it impious to build houses, plough fields, sail upon the ocean? In all these actions we use our powers of mind and body to make some difference in the course of nature, and in none of them do we do anything more than that. So they are all equally innocent or equally criminal” (23). This argument is completely wrong because the act of killing one’s self and ploughing a field or building a house are simply not comparable. Everything that God put on this Earth is put there to be used by mankind. Building a house or ploughing a field doesn’t subtract anything of moral value from the world, it creates benefits for people using the resources that God gave us. Committing suicide does subtract moral value from the world, regardless of how much value a person places on their life. As the creator of life, God is the only one who can take life away, and defying this would be a sin. It could be argued that killing a deer for meat would subtract from the world and thus be equally as criminal as suicide, but it is written in the Bible that animals are put on the world for the benefit of mankind.

Hume’s last argument of suicide in terms of duty to God, is that God is the deciding factor behind all voluntary actions, which is partially true. But because of this, if one were to take their own life, it would happen with God’s consent, as Hume says. Hume makes a sound, logical argument, but he blatantly disregards the fact that God would never consent to someone taking their own life. God has a presence in the world, and things happen because God wills it, but human action revolves around the free will that he gives us. This free will gives us the ability to commit suicide if we wish, but as it is written in the Bible, God would never consent to this.

Hume moves on to discuss why suicide isn’t a breach of our duty to society. He writes, “A man who retires from life doesn’t harm society: he only ceases to do good, and if that counts as doing harm, it is the very mildest form of harm-doing” (24). While this is true, Hume fails to mention the negative effects that suicide has to our friends and family. I personally know people that have had a family member or friend commit suicide, and it completely devastated them. It is simply preposterous for Hume to say that the only harm suicide does to society is that it takes away potential good actions. Hume also believes that it is praiseworthy for someone to take their life if they no longer have anything positive to give to society. He completely neglects to mention how suicide can affect the ones close to you. Hume argues that if a felon were sentenced to death by society, it would be beneficial for him to kill himself rather than await an inevitable death. This sounds reasonable, but it is not up to the individual to decide when he should die. Yes, he will die no matter what, but society is what sentenced him to death and society must be the one to carry out the sentence.

Hume’s last argument involves our duty to ourselves. He says that if our life has become a burden to ourselves, then suicide is our only way to free us of our misery. He also writes, “…suicide is our only way to be useful to society—setting an example which, if imitated, would preserve to everyone his chance for happiness in life, and effectively free him from all risk of misery” (25). Again, Hume fails to mention the negative connotations that come with suicide, which greatly outweigh any selfish benefits that come with it. Suicide greatly devastates our friends and family, and completely goes against God’s intentions. It is true that suicide would free us of any miseries that we may experience, but there are always ways to overcome those miseries. People can seek help from those close to them, and eventually overcome their pains. However, Hume seems to advocate taking the quick, easy way out by simply committing suicide.

No matter what arguments are presented, whatever ridiculous justifications are presented, suicide is always a cowardly method of ending one’s suffering. The negative’s associated with suicide always outweigh the few selfish benefits that come with it. Suicide is never justifiable in the eyes of God, no matter what feeble loopholes are found. Also, suicide is an incredibly selfish act which greatly damages the people close to us, even if committing suicide seems to be the only way to end one’s suffering, which it never is. Because of these reasons, suicide is never justified no matter what people believe.