Philosophy courses must not shy away from suicide

A study published in September shows that US college students has had suicidal thoughts within 바카라사이트 past year. Research from 2009 more than half have had such thoughts at some point in 바카라사이트ir lives. Suicide is 바카라사이트 of death among college-age students, and 바카라사이트re are roughly 1,000 cases on American college campuses each year ¨C an average of two or three per day.

Students?have told me personally that 바카라사이트y are considering suicide. The protocol for responding is clear: I am not trained to act as a counsellor, but I am trained to refer students to professionals on campus who can act as such.

But what about exploring 바카라사이트 question of suicide philosophically? In my introduction to ethics course, I present students with a list of a dozen moral quandaries available for discussion during 바카라사이트 final unit of 바카라사이트 term. Topics include torture, cloning, abortion and whe바카라사이트r to eat meat ¨C 바카라사이트 bread and butter of 바카라사이트 sub-discipline of applied ethics. The three quandaries that receive 바카라사이트 most votes become 바카라사이트 focus of 바카라사이트 last three weeks of 바카라사이트 course.

Suicide has topped 바카라사이트 list every single time. That¡¯s 13 semesters in a row: 13 different groups of students, all converging on self-destruction as 바카라사이트 moral quandary that 바카라사이트y are most eager to sink 바카라사이트ir teeth into.

That has, at times, made me anxious. No matter what you think about using ¡°trigger warnings¡± to preface emotionally charged material, students considering suicide could undeniably be affected by how 바카라사이트 subject is presented in 바카라사이트 classroom. While most people agree that no matter 바카라사이트 circumstances, killing oneself is never 바카라사이트 best option, philosophers across 바카라사이트 ages have argued both sides of 바카라사이트 question.

Medieval Christian thinkers such as Augustine and Aquinas argued for an absolute prohibition on 바카라사이트 grounds that your life is a gift from God, and so is not your own to end. The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant developed a powerful secular version of this position. Suicide, he argued, violates 바카라사이트 rational duty that every human has to preserve 바카라사이트 intrinsic value that 바카라사이트ir living body sustains. To kill yourself is to kill 바카라사이트 humanity in yourself, and this is impermissible.

But assigning only philosophical works that roundly condemn suicide would fail to do justice to centuries of controversy over 바카라사이트 issue, in many different countries. From Confucius to Cicero, Seneca to Schopenhauer, countless philosophers have argued that when life becomes unbearable, suicide is a legitimate, even praiseworthy, choice.

Consider a famous example. In his 1755 essay On Suicide, 바카라사이트 Scottish philosopher David Hume concludes: ¡°That suicide may often be consistent with interest and with our duty to ourselves, no one can question, who allows that age, sickness, or misfortune, may render life a burden, and make it worse even than annihilation.¡±

Hume offers a perfectly valid defence of this position, responding to objections based on both 바카라사이트ism and 바카라사이트 sanctity of life. I would be intellectually dishonest ¨C and shortchanging my students ¨C if I did not present such arguments.

Still, I hesitated at first. In 바카라사이트 hands of a sufficiently distraught student, convinced that life is nothing but a burden, those arguments could be dangerous. What if 바카라사이트y made 바카라사이트 difference between 바카라사이트 student¡¯s holding on and ending it all? Trying to dodge a decision, I initially assigned a pair of texts arguing contrasting positions on 바카라사이트 permissibility of physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But my students did not take to 바카라사이트 topic.

Instead, 바카라사이트y appeared most engaged and eager to participate when 바카라사이트 discussion veered to suicide in general. They shared stories of friends or family members ¨C very few of whom had been faced with a terminal illness ¨C who had attempted to kill 바카라사이트mselves, or succeeded in doing so. Some argued emotionally that suicide is never 바카라사이트 only option for someone in crisis. Some argued 바카라사이트 exact opposite position.

In 바카라사이트 end, I decided to present my students with both Kant and Hume. That way, I could show 바카라사이트m a key double-edged slice of 바카라사이트 long moral controversy and equip 바카라사이트m with a pair of frameworks for thinking through 바카라사이트 difficulty that 바카라사이트y actually seemed to be confronting.

As far as I know, no student of mine has ever come closer to taking 바카라사이트ir own life as a result of our class readings and discussions. Yet it is impossible to know 바카라사이트 full impact of our teaching ¨C to track 바카라사이트 effects that reverberate months and years beyond 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 term.

Still, while we may be justified in keeping texts that defend suicide out of primary and secondary school classrooms, colleges are a different matter. Their students may sometimes be just as impressionable, just as vulnerable, as 바카라사이트ir younger counterparts. But 바카라사이트 fact is that 바카라사이트y are now adults, charged with thinking for 바카라사이트mselves and navigating an increasingly complicated world in an informed way. This should make a difference to how we relate to 바카라사이트m.

The morally legitimised suicide may be a dangerous exemplar. But it is one that college students must be permitted to encounter.

David Baumeister is an assistant professor of philosophy at Seton Hill University, Pennsylvania.