Ethical Discussion: Suicide in the Cases of Hume and Kant

Yıl 2019, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 1, 121 - 146, 28.03.2019

Elif Ergün Tufan Çötok

https://doi.org/10.18491/beytulhikme.1421

Öz

Suicide is a kind of death that has philosophical, religious, ethical, cultural, juridical, historical, medical and sociological meanings. There is a consensus about how hard it is to understand the act itself. There can be a close relationship, when it comes to one’s attitude towards suicide, between one’s fear of and irritation to it and its being considered to be a crime. Suicide was not considered to be so in the Jewish-Hellenic tradition until the 5th century of Christianity. Since the beginning of this century, the Church has begun to take a serious stance on suicide. The relationships of Christian tradition to God as well as the prohibition of suicide as a rearrangement of social relations make it necessary to take into account the etymology of the concept. In other words, that "suicide" comes from the Latin words "sui" (self) and "cadres" (kill) shows historically how this taboo settled. We will be interested in two philosophers, each of whom deals with suicide in a historical context. Hume shows in a small treatise that why suicide is not a crime against God, society, and the man himself. On the other hand Kant, in his various works written in different periods, explains why suicide cannot be justified. Although Kant when the examples given in the first period are taken into consideration does not seem to be clear, he in accordance with his ethics of duty in the second period does not accept suicide under any circumstances. Having two opposing views on suicide, Hume and Kant today may contribute to ask the correct questions in the discussion of the problem on an ethical aspect.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Suicide, Hume, Kant, ethics, religion

Kaynakça

• Alvarez, A. (1999). İntihar-Kan Dökücü Tanrı. (Çev. Z. Ç. Sarıkaya). İstanbul: Öteki Yayınevi.
• Beauchamp, T. L. (1976). An Analysis of Hume's Essay "On Suicide". The Review of Metaphysics, 30 (1), 73-95.
• Brown, R. M. (2001). The Art of Suicide. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
• Camus, A (2009). Sisifos Söyleni. (Çev. T. Yücel). İstanbul: Can Yayınları.
• Cholbi, M. J. (2000). Kant and the Irrationality of Suicide. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 17 (2), 159-176.
• Critchley, S. (2016). İntihar Üzerine Notlar. (Çev. U. Özmakas). İstanbul: Pharma-kon Kitap.
• Çötok, T. (2013). Kant’ın Ahlak Eğitiminde Maksimin Yeri. Sakarya Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 25, 147-166.
• Elliott, C. (2018). Philosopher Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. British Medical Journal, 313, 1088-1089.
• Evans, G. & Farberow, N. L. & Associates, K. (2003). The Encyclopedia of Suicide. New York: Facts on File, Inc.
• Feldman, F. (2012). Etik Nedir? (Çev. F. B. Aydar). İstanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Hume, D. (2017). İntihar Üzerine ve Diğer Denemeler. (Çev. A. Pekanık & M. Özgen & L. Özşar). İstanbul: Biblos Yayınları.
• Hume, D. (2017). İntihar ve Ruhun Ölümsüzlüğü Üzerine. (Çev. B. Denizci). İstanbul: Sub Yayınları.
• Hume, D. (2017). İntihar. (Çev. Ö. Karaçanak). İstanbul: Tefrika Yayınları.
• Hume, D. (2018). Denemeler. (Çev. B. Karakaş). İstanbul: Pinhan Yayınları.
• Gorsuch, N. M. (2006). The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Princeton: Princeton Universitiy Press.
• Güven, K. (2001). Kişilik Hakları ve Ötanazi. İstanbul: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım.
• İnceoğlu, S. (1999). Ölme Hakkı/Ötanazi. İstanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları.
• Guyer, P. (2005), Kant'ın Ödevler Sistemi. Cogito: Sonsuzluğun Sınırlarında- Imma-nuel Kant, 41-42, 277-339.
• Kant, I. (1991). The Metaphysics of Morals. (Trans. M. Gregor). Cambridge: Camb-ridge University Press
• Kant, I. (1994). Pratik Aklın Eleştirisi. (Çev. İonna Kuçurardi & Yusuf Örnek). Ankara: TFK Yayınları.
• Kant, I. (1995a). Ahlak Metafiziğinin Temellendirilmesi. (Çev. İ. Kuçurardi). Ankara: Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Yayınları.
• Kant, I. (1995b). Prologomena. (Çev. İ. Kuçurardi). Ankara: Türkiye Felsefe Kuru-mu Yayınları.
• Kant, I. (1997). Lectures on Ethics. (Trans. P. Heath). Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press.
• Kant, I. (2003). Ethica: Etik Üzerine Dersler. (Çev. O. Özügül). İstanbul: Pencere Yayınları.
• Kant, I. (2012). Lectures on Anthropology. (Trans. R. R. Clewis). Cambridge: Camb-ridge University Press.
• Keown, J. (2009). Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press.
• Marsh, I. (2017). İntihar, Foucault, Tarih ve Hakikat. (Çev. Y. A. Dalar). İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
• Merrill, K. R. (1999). Hume on Suicide. University of Illinois Press on behalf of North American Philosophical Publications, 16 (4), 395-412.
• Minois, G. (2008). İntiharın Tarihi: İstemli Ölüm Karşısında Batı Toplumu. (Çev. N. Acar). Ankara: Dost Kitabevi.
• Nardo, D. (2002). Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology. New York: Greenhaven Press.
• Özkan, Y. (2017). Hollanda'da Ötanazi İsteyenlerin Sayısı Artıyor. Erişim Tarihi: 02.04.2018. https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-41788985.
• Rawls, J. (2000). Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy. Cambridge: Harward University Press.
• Seidler, M. J. (1983). Kant and the Stoics on Suicide. Journal of the History of Ideas, 44 (3), 429-453.
• Uleman, J. (2006). No King and No Torture: Kant on Suicide and Law. Kantian Review, 21 (1), 77-100.
• Volant, E. (2005). İntiharlar Sözlüğü. (Çev. T. Ilgaz). İstanbul: Say Yayınları.
• Wood, A. W. (2009). No King and No Torture: Kant on Suicide and Law. (Çev. A. Kovanlıkaya). Ankara: Dost Kitabevi.
• Zupančič, A. (2010). Gerçeğin Etiği: Kant, Lacan. (Çev. A. S. Özcan). Ankara: Epos Yayınları.