Breaking the Thread of Life

On Rational Suicide

Robert Barry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351530798
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Suicide, and how civilized people should respond to it, is an increasingly controversial topic in modern society. In Holland, suicide is the third leading cause of death of people between the ages of fifteen and forty. In the United States, it is the second leading cause of death among older teenagers. Laws prohibiting assisted suicide are being directly and boldly confronted by activists in the United States, most notably Jack Kevorkian. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union has publicly declared suicide a fundamental human right that should be protected under the Constitution. The Hemlock Society has introduced referenda in California, Washington, and Oregon to legalize suicide and assisted suicide. The most vocal opposition to these initiatives has come from the Roman Catholic church.Breaking the Thread of Life marshalls philosophical, moral, medical, historical, and theological arguments in support of the Roman Catholic position against suicide. In a comprehensive study of the history of suicide, Barry shows that Christian civilization was one of only a few early societies that was able to bring suicide under control. He counters claims that Catholicism and the Bible endorse rational suicide. Barry also analyzes arguments in support of the rationality of suicide and illuminates their biases, inadequacies, and dangers.Barry presents the rationale for the Roman Catholic church's strong, extensive, and articulate opposition to efforts to gain legal and social endorsement of suicide and assisted suicide. His book represents the most complete study of the classical Roman Catholic view of rational suicide to date, and it will be of significant interest to philosophers, theologians, physicians, and lawyers.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The New Face of Suicide
• 1. Defining Suicide in the Catholic Context
• Defining Suicide Broadly
• Narrow Definitions of Suicide
• A More Adequate Definition of Suicide
• What Counts as a Suicide
• 2. The Changing Face of Despair: The Catholic Response to Ancient Suicide
• Suicide in Preliterate Society
• Hellenistic Suicide: A Schizophrenic Approach
• Roman Suicide: Libertinism and the Trivialization of Human Life
• The Judeo-Christian Response to Ancient Suicide
• Conclusion
• 3. The Emergence of Modern Suicide
• Suicide in Japan
• Suicide in India
• Renaissance Suicide and the Age of Melancholy
• The Enlightenment and the Reemergence of Suicide
• Romantic Suicide: The New Circumcellions
• Absurdity, Dada, and Suicide
• Modern Suicide: The New Dilemma
• 4. Catholicism and the Morality of Suicide
• A Survey of Contemporary Literature
• The Biblical Teachings on Suicide
• The Catholic Moral Arguments against Suicide
• The Critique of the Catholic Teachings on Suicide
• Conclusion
• 5. The Rationality of Suicide
• Suicide as a Rational Act
• Suicide as an Irrational Action
• The Rationality of Suicide from a Catholic Perspective
• Conclusion
• 6. The Voluntariness of Rational Suicide
• The Suicidal Decision: A Psychological Portrait
• Suicide and Voluntariness
• When is Suicide a Voluntary Decision? The Hard Cases
• Conclusion
• 7. Indirectly Intended Analgesic Suicide: Clarifying the Principles
• Recent Developments in Analgesic Therapy
• Questions Concerning Indirectly Lethal Analgesia
• Conclusion
• 8. The Social Dynamics of Rational Suicide
• Killing to Control Suffering: An Uncontrollable Practice
• Protecting the Common Law Tradition on Suicide
• Protecting the Integrity of the Healing Professions
• The Social Benefits of Suicide: Claims and
• Counterclaims
• Conclusion
• 9 Proclaiming Hope and New Life to the Dying: Suicide and Pastoral Care
• The Doctrines of "Euthanasia and Pastoral Care"
• Christian Suicide: Problems and Paradoxes
• The Theology of "Euthanasia and Pastoral Care"
• Pastoral Ministry to the Suicidal: Shepherding to Hope
• Conclusion
• Index