"Suicide truly frightens only those who have never been tempted by it and never will be, for its darkness welcomes only those who are predestined by it," a quote from George Bernanos. If we think long and hard about this quote from Bernanos, what position can we assume he holds regarding the morality of suicide? By saying that we are predestined to suicide we must assume that he is referring to David Humes' theory and his belief that it may actually be God's will for us to commit suicide. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay How many of us have contemplated the morality of suicide? It is morally wrong to take your own life; or are we predestined to do so? Do we really consider how the end of our life will affect the people around us? Some people think it's selfish to only think of ourselves in the darkest moments of our lives. Shouldn't we consider how our actions will affect the people around us? Is suicide morally correct? Is it up to us humans to decide whether it is right or against God's will to commit such an act? Suicide is a long-debated issue that will always have an inconclusive answer. Human beings struggle daily for their autonomy. At a young age we all start looking for our own way of doing things. We want the right to choose for ourselves and we don't want any person, not even God, to tell us what we should and shouldn't do. The argument about the morality of suicide is not a simple one. Throughout our self-governance must we also take into account how our actions will affect others? Is suicide also our decision or does it go against God to make this decision? Are we expected to have a duty to ourselves or to others, since we cannot be expected to do both? These are just some of the questions debated when we look at the work of David Hume and Immanuel Kant. David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and considered a famous figure in philosophy. Hume was known for many things during his lifetime, but he primarily considered himself a moralist. In his essay on the morality of suicide Hume tells his readers “A person should not live an unhappy existence because he believes false reasons for committing suicide.” What are these false reasons you are referring to? Is it Hume's belief that God has made no law prohibiting us from committing suicide? In contrast, Hume believes that God has entrusted us to use our own judgment and do the right thing in this world. But what is the right thing and who decides whether it is right or wrong? If a person believes it is the right thing to do, then Humes believes it really is the right thing to do. Using this rationality all men's choices are correct and everything we do is right. In fact, God may have trusted us to all make our own decisions and all of them to be the right ones. It seems we've been proving this theory wrong ever since Adam and Eve had the great apple tasting. However, Humes argues, we were created to make the best decision for ourselves, so we will. If Hume believes that we in fact always make the best decision for ourselves, then we can clearly see why he would also believe that we have a duty to ourselves and to ourselves alone. it's not the people around us who survive. This way of thinking suggested by Hume means that we would have no duty to our children to stay alive. It's hard to believe that we don't owe the humans we created some duty to survive. God did not intend for us to take care of our ownyoung? It is difficult to refute Hume's point that we have no duty to God to remain alive because God has established no law against it. It may very well be God's plan for us to take our own lives. When God lays out the Ten Commandments and says “Thou shalt not kill,” we are only assuming that He was not referring to ourselves. After all, suicide means killing yourself. I believe God wanted all of us to strive to find our ultimate happiness. If one believes their greatest happiness will be found with God in his kingdom, it would be difficult to wait. Didn't God intend for us to serve Him and do good deeds until we earned this greater happiness? I feel like this is what was intended. Hume believes that the voluntary actions of men have placed them when and where they are in their lives. The jobs they hold, the families they have and everything is so man's decision, not God's. He also argues that it might be in the best interest of others if a person were to commit suicide. If a person were to weigh the positive and negative side effects of their death on the people around them, they may very well get more positives than negatives. I find it almost impossible to think that a person could ever know for sure how their death will affect the world. Things change every moment of every day, so the circumstances that could change the effects of our suicide change every moment of every day. Immanuel Kant's essay has a very different view of suicide from that of Humes. Kant was a German philosopher during the Enlightenment period. Kant believed that suicide was never permissible under any circumstances. Human beings are God's property and we have no right to dispose of God's property. Kant is widely known for his deontological ethics. Kant believes that people are capable of rationality while animals are not. Since humans can think rationally while animals cannot, we have a duty to uphold our morality while animals do not. Upholding our morality by Kant's standards, however, can prove challenging. Kant believes that human beings must leave their feelings and emotions out of situations so that they can make the right moral choice. If we follow this guideline, we will always get the right result. We assume we know the right moral choice. Kant believes that God actually created us and therefore owns us; making us his property. We have no right to destroy your property. At some point we will all perish, and God's property will inevitably be destroyed. Does the timing of this happen make any difference to God? Hume would argue that if God did not intend for us to take our own lives, why then did He make it possible for us to end it? Why did God give us free will to live as we see fit if he actually intended it to be against his laws? We can assume that God actually gave us free will in the hope that we make the right choices and that some of us don't make the right choice. If a child is drowning and you jump in and save him, but lose your life in the process; did you take your own life? Is it morally wrong if you saved a life in exchange? An act like this can be morally wrong and lead to a favorable outcome. Who then determines whose life is more important? The belief that God wanted us to take moral actions while we are alive is a beautiful belief. However, how can we determine how many moral actions God intended us to perform? If God is destined to control everything, doesn't he already know at what time our lives will end and we will no longer perform these moral acts? Kant's argument that we must live as long as possible in order to accomplish as much.