Synopses & Reviews
Classic volume revisits the heated debate over life's ultimate choice.
What exactly counts as a suicide? Is suicide ever rational or morally justified? Is it ever obligatory? Are suicidal actions -- or patterns of self-negligent behavior that result in death -- also bona fide suicides? Is it psychiatrically accurate to label successful or unsuccessful suicides as mentally deranged or seriously depressed and, in the case of the unsuccessful, in need of confinement or treatment? Should people who assist or abet others be criminally prosecuted? Is the notion of self-murder an oxymoron? Are cases of altruistically motivated self-killing really suicides? Are self-annihilations prompted by honor or loyalty -- i.e., choosing death over dishonor -- genuine suicides? Do autonomous individuals have a right to die? Do they have the right to assistance in their deaths?
These and a host of related matters are explored in Suicide: Right or Wrong?, a timely collection of essays that clarifies the battlelines of public debate surrounding this intense and painful topic. Updated and expanded with ten new selections, there is no more complete volume on the subject.
Synopsis
Classic volume revisits and clarifies the heated debate over life's ultimate choice.
Updated and expanded with ten new selections, there is no more complete volume on the subject.