Description

This book is a three part analysis of suicide from a
philosophical perspective. First, this analysis is an
attempt to explain the phenomenon of suicide from an
evolutionary perspective.It is a thoroughly
Naturalistic analysis, one that pays homage to
Darwin's brilliant insight concerning the origins of
life.Second, many philosophers have written about the
definition and moral status of suicide. This analysis
sets forth the ideas of several highly influential
philosophers such as Plato, Immanuel Kant, and David
Hume. Third, I attempt to justify my definition of
suicide as well as its extension in the natural
world. If suicide is the intentional act of killing
oneself and if the distinction between intentionally
X-ing and intending to X is correct, then our
commonplace, intuitive understanding of the class of
actions which count as instances of suicide is
mistaken. Those agents who heroically sacrifice
themselves for the sake of others are included in the
definition, despite the altruistic intentions of the
agent. The rhetoric surrounding suicide is revealed
by analyzing the evolutionary factors which
contribute to self damaging behavior.