Friends who are regulars of this site know the host has no problem with anyone who decides to quit this life on their own terms. I will go so far as to say that when a person who attempts suicide fails and is arrested, we are punishing them not for trying to kill themselves but for being clumsy while at it. I see no other justification for punishment in such a case other than the one already stated.
Readers are also aware that I have no belief in the immortality in the soul.
It is with this background that I share this article on suicide and immortality of the soul.
Random thoughts 
Interesting, although hard to follow, being so early.
“Were our horror of annihilation an original passion, not the effect of our general love of happiness, it would rather prove the mortality of the soul. For as nature does nothing in vain, she would never give us a horror against an impossible event. She may give us a horror against an unavoidable event, provided our endeavours, as in the present case, may often remove it to some distance. Death is in the end unavoidable; yet the human species could not be preserved, had not nature inspired us with an aversion towards it.”
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What I gather here is, if our lives didn’t end at the grave, nature would not have given us a horror for death.It would be welcomed by all and sundry for it would only mean a transition.
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Ahhhh, now it makes sense. This is Hume, right? I haven’t read much of him, but his sentence structure can be baffling. It is, however, and interesting point to make, although the theist would of course argue that the objective is to ‘find’ their god, hidden as it is, and as such, win extra bonus points.
Hey, I liked your exchange with Phadde. I’d forgotten how anal he is.
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Yes, this is Hume.
There is no place in holy writ where it speaks expressly against suicide. The theist will have to give their own reasons for opposing suicide, they have no support in scripture.
You attract some very strange people. I read most of the exchanges, like with Roy or Blake. You really are a patient man
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Well, I’ve presented a formal challenge, so the best i can do is be polite 🙂
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You are right. I think that explains the strange people who visit your site.
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Suicide is man’s way of telling God, ‘You can’t fire me – I quit.’
Bill Maher
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There is no better way of saying it
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I like Hume, tough, like John says, he can be a bit hard to read, probably because he was Scottish and wrote wearing a kilt whilst playing bagpipes. Crazy those Scots are. But I agree with his view that we wouldn’t have a horror of death if there were something better after. This is also what Hamlet says in his famous to be or not to be speech. It’s the fear of what comes after death, nothing, that keeps most of us from suicide. But, as Hume says, if the pain of this life brings one to end it, what business is that of the law? I say none.
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You could be right about wearing a kilt and nothing else affecting his writing. I have experience of this 🙂
The law has no business with her who decides to quit this life
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I don’t follow. By “when a person who attempts suicide fails and is arrested“, are you saying that to attempt suicide is a criminal offence?
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No, not at all. To be clumsy while at it.
Here if one attempts suicide and it is known by the authorities, they could be arrested.
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Arrested for what?
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Attempted suicide
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