Suicide: The Philosophical Issues

The Background / A. Alvarez -- Did Socrates Commit Suicide? / R.g. Frey -- The Concept Of Suicide / Peter Y. Windt -- Suicide And Self-sacrifice / Robert M. Martin -- Suicide : Some Theological Reflections / P.r. Baelz -- Suicide And Covenant / Karen Lebacqz & H. Tristram Engelhardt -- Apologia For Suicide / Mary Rose Barrington -- The Ethics Of Not-being : Individual Options For Suicide / Colleen D. Clements -- The Rationality Of Suicide / Richard B. Brandt -- Irrational Suicide / David J. Mayo -- On Choosing Death / Philip E. Devine -- Suicide And False Desires / Robert M. Martin -- Suicide As Instrument And Expression / David Wood -- The Art Of Suicide / Joyce Carol Oates -- Manipulated Suicide / M. Pabst Battin -- The Ethics Of Suicide / Thomas S. Szasz. Choosing The Time To Die / Eliot Slater -- Suicide Prevention And The Value Of Human Life / Erwin Ringel -- The Right To Suicide : A Psychiatrist's View / Jerome A. Motto -- Suicide And The Inalienable Right To Life / Joel Feinberg -- A Constitutional Right To Suicide / Alan L. Sullivan -- Assisting Suicide : A Problem For The Criminal Law / Leslie Pickering Francis -- Suicide : A Fundamental Human Right? / M. Pabst Battin -- Suicide And Virtue / James Bogen. Edited By M. Pabst Battin And David J. Mayo. Includes Bibliographical References. "Does a person have the right to end his or her own life? Is suicide always an irrational choice? Is it evidence of insanity? Do other persons have the right or obligation to intervene in an individual's attempt at suicide, or is suicide prevention an infringement of the individual's rights? Is there a legal right to suicide, or to assist someone who asks for help in ending his or her life? Is what we term heroism or self-sacrifice a kind of suicide, and if so, on what basis do we allow it? Can suicide be meaningful? Can it ever be morally right?"--Inside front flap