“Suicide actually only frightens those who have never been tempted by it and never will be, because its darkness welcomes only those who are predestined to it”, a quote from George Bernanos. If we think hard about this quote from Bernanos, what position can we presume he occupies in terms of 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 God might actually want us to commit suicide. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay How many of us have considered the morality of suicide? Is it morally wrong to commit suicide? or are we predestined to do so? Do we really think about how ending our lives 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 think about how our actions will affect the people around us? Is suicide morally right? Is it up to us as humans to make the decision if it is correct or is it against God's will to commit such an act? Suicide is a long-debated question that will always have an inconclusive answer. Humans struggle daily for their autonomy. From a young age, we all start looking for our own way of doing things. We want to have the right to choose for ourselves and not have anyone, not even God, tell us what we should and should not do. The argument for the morality of suicide is not simple. For all of our self-governance, we must also consider how our actions will affect others? Is suicide even our decision or does it go against God to make this decision? Are we supposed to have a duty to ourselves or to others, when we cannot be expected to do both? These are just a few questions debated when examining the works of David Hume and Immanuel Kant. David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist and considered a famous figure in philosophy. Hume was known for many things during his life, but he considered himself primarily 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 in false reasons for committing suicide.” What are these false reasons he is referring to? Does Hume believe that God has made no law prohibiting us from committing suicide? Rather, Hume believes that God has charged us to use our own judgment and do the right thing in this world. But what is right and who decides whether it is right or wrong? If a person believes that it is the right thing to do, then Humes believes that it is indeed the right thing to do. Using this rationality, all men's choices are correct and everything we do is right. Indeed, God may have trusted us all to make our own decisions and that they are all good ones. It seems we have proven this theory wrong since the days of Adam and Eve with the great apple tasting. However, Humes argues, we were created to make the best decision for ourselves and we will do so. If Hume believes that we indeed always make the best decision for ourselves, we can clearly understand why he would also believe that we have only a duty to and to ourselves. not the people around usto stay alive. This way of thinking suggested by Hume means that we would have no obligation to our children to stay alive. It's hard to believe that we don't owe a duty to the humans we created to stay alive. Didn’t God intend for us to take care of our children? It is difficult to dispute Hume's argument that we have no duty to God to stay alive because God has made no law against it. It could very well be that God will cause us to take our own lives. When God stated the Ten Commandments and said “Thou shalt not kill,” we simply assume that He was not talking about ourselves. After all, suicide is suicide. I believe God intended that we all strive to find our own ultimate happiness. If we believe their greatest happiness will be found with God in his kingdom, it would be difficult to wait. Has not God intended for us to serve him and do good deeds until we have earned this greater happiness? I think that's what was planned. Hume believes that men's voluntary actions have placed them where they are in their lives. The jobs they have, the families they have, and all this is because of the decision of man and not of God. He also argues that it might be in the best interests of others for a person to commit suicide. If a person were to weigh the positive and negative side effects of their death on the people around them, they might very well find more positives than negatives. I find it almost impossible to think that a single person can know with certainty how their death will ultimately affect the world. Things change every moment of every day, so the circumstances that might alter the effects of our suicide change every moment of every day. Immanuel Kant's essay takes a very different view of suicide than Humes. Kant was a German philosopher from the Age of Enlightenment. Kant believed that suicide was permissible under any circumstances. Humans 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 humans are capable of rationality, while animals are not. Because humans can think rationally, while animals cannot, we have a duty to uphold our morality, whereas animals cannot. However, maintaining our morality according to Kant's standards can be difficult. Kant believes that humans must leave their feelings and emotions out of situations in order to be able to make the right moral choice. If we follow this guideline, we will always get the right result. We assume that we will know the right moral choice. Kant believes that, in fact, God created us, therefore he owns us; making us his property. We do not have the right to destroy his property. At some point we will all perish and God's property will inevitably be destroyed. Does it make any difference to God when this happens? Hume would say that if God did not intend for us to take our own lives, why then did He allow us to end it? Why did God give us free will to live as we please if in fact He wanted it to be against His laws? We can assume that God has indeed given us free will in the hope that we make the right choices and that some of us do not make the right choice. If a child is drowning and you jump in and save the child but lose your life in the process; did you commit suicide? Is it morally wrong if you saved a life in return? An act like this can.