The Other Side of Suicide

About the Book

I write this book in a social milieu where telecommunications can make a very private act globally public in a moment. A question I don’t consider is whether and to what extent the publicity attendant on a potential suicide inclines one toward or against the follow through. I suspect that it figures in, but what it amounts to in the end differs widely in each case. What I do have in mind is a rather full discussion and consideration of a host of questions I don’t hear being asked in the discussion of suicide today. In fact, I find the comments from most media talking heads to be either sincerely trite or politely banal. But then, one shouldn’t expect an in depth exploration of any side of the suicide question from the popular media. Where one should expect a more thorough investigation, however, is from the spokespeople representing our culture’s philosophical and theological traditions. What I hear most often has been said before, often in a context where the authoritative spokesmen for the Church issue blanket condemnations backed up by the written codes of civil law, canon law, moral law or natural law. Authorization for this outright condemnation of suicide, ipso facto, has always been backed up by law of some kind and its interpretation to the people in the pew or the public at large.

About the Author