Discussion When did suicide become so taboo in the west?

[ayb]

Back in Ancient Greece and Rome, many leaders, philosophers, generals and other notable people killed themselves. The mindset towards suicide was more relaxed. In fact one of my most admired suicides throughout history was by Cato who disemboweled himself rather than living under Caesar whom he saw as a tyrant.

It seems to me that Christianity introduced much of the taboo surrounding suicide in the west. In regions where Abrahamic religions did not infect, the view towards suicide was much more relaxed for a very long time. An example of this is in Japan where dishonor and shame were seen as worse than death.

 

[GoPeaceful]

Correct my if I am wrong, but life is seen as a gift given by god. And if you commit suiciode, you will reject the gift a good has given you.

 

[Meretlein]

Correct my if I am wrong, but life is seen as an gift given by god. And if you commit suiciode, you will reject the gift a good has given you.

Exactly. I grew up in a Christian country and went to a Catholic school so I can't speak for other religions but Christians say that our lives are not ours and that we are just stewards of it.

And we also have the mental illness/rationality for the secular people now. I feel like this is a lot more to unpack and I can go on and on about how flawed I find this. I will just say that it is slightly amusing to me that these people believe that life is worth living when in the same breath they will say that chemicals in our brains our controlling us.

 

[Logic]

Back in Ancient Greece and Rome, many leaders, philosophers, generals and other notable people killed themselves. The mindset towards suicide was more relaxed. In fact one of my most admired suicides throughout history was by Cato who disemboweled himself rather than living under Caesar whom he saw as a tyrant.

It seems to me that Christianity introduced much of the taboo surrounding suicide in the west. In regions where Abrahamic religions did not infect, the view towards suicide was much more relaxed for a very long time. An example of this is in Japan where dishonor and shame were seen as worse than death.

How can you not like red better than blue? Clearly everything must be done so you line red better than blue. That is essentially our current suicide policies.

 

[CJM]

Not too sure but certainly religion would have something to with it somewhere along the line. I remember openly telling my mother of my attempt as I didn't want to tell anyone else and she basically told me how frowned upon it is on her side of the family or culture.

 

[Logic]

Back in Ancient Greece and Rome, many leaders, philosophers, generals and other notable people killed themselves. The mindset towards suicide was more relaxed. In fact one of my most admired suicides throughout history was by Cato who disemboweled himself rather than living under Caesar whom he saw as a tyrant.

It seems to me that Christianity introduced much of the taboo surrounding suicide in the west. In regions where Abrahamic religions did not infect, the view towards suicide was much more relaxed for a very long time. An example of this is in Japan where dishonor and shame were seen as worse than death.

Rome also sanctioned suicide . For instance during much of Rome history it would give free hemlock(lethal poison) to anyone who suicide that was judged to be of sound reasoning. Suicide is largely currently taboo due to monotheistic values. It's ridiculous to say science's says "blue is better than red." That doesn't even make sense

 

[21Neberg]

I kind of understand people not wanting to talk about suicide though. People simply don't want to lose their loved ones, and they certainly won't accept their suicide or even help them...

 

[JustLosingMyself]

In Christian Roman empire too many slaves offed themselves in search of the promise of paradise. This endangered the Roman economic system, so suicide was made a mortal sin and a one way ticket to Hell.
It also ensures that legal violence is the sole preserve of the state

 

[Othermind]

Back in Ancient Greece and Rome, many leaders, philosophers, generals and other notable people killed themselves. The mindset towards suicide was more relaxed. In fact one of my most admired suicides throughout history was by Cato who disemboweled himself rather than living under Caesar whom he saw as a tyrant.

Those were extreme and very out of the ordinary situations, often enough embellished for posterity. I can only think of the stoics, a philosphical school of the ancient world with some following in Rome, that had lax views on suicide. Under very specific circumstances.

Rome also sanctioned suicide . For instance during much of Rome history it would give free hemlock(lethal poison) to anyone who suicide that was judged to be of sound reasoning. Suicide is largely currently taboo due to monotheistic values. It's ridiculous to say science's says "blue is better than red." That doesn't even make sense

That was one city in modern day Southern France. We don't have any other accounts of similar things happening anywhere else in the Roman world.

 

[Logic]

Those were extreme and very out of the ordinary situations, often enough embellished for posterity. I can only think of the stoics, a philosphical school of the ancient world with some following in Rome, that had lax views on suicide. Under very specific circumstances.

That was one city in modern day Southern France. We don't have any other accounts of similar things happening anywhere else in the Roman world.

That is adorable. I will just agree to disagree.