Suicide, Martyrdom, and Virtue

There is a popular subject for analysis whenever one enters a moral argument: the value of life. Many will support that living is a pretty darn good, and that we should strive to support our own lives and the lives of others who can do things to support our lives. To drop a few popular quotes:

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." - Audrey Hepburn

"...being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions..." - John Locke

"He who has a why to live can hear almost any how" - Friedrich Nietzsche 

However, life is something that has proven throughout our existence to be difficult, if not impossible, to quantify for the purpose of attributing an objective value. The medical definition reads as follows: 

The cessation of life; permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions."

It also lists the following criteria:

"the cessation of 1 - total cerebral function... 2 - spontaneous function of the respiratory system, and 3 - spontaneous function of the circulatory system."

Based on this working definition, doctors are able to "prove" that a person, for all practical purposes, is dead and probably won't be coming in for his or her 9 o clock shift tomorrow. 

Now, with arguments of the soul and the afterlife notwithstanding, I'd like to take a minute to examine suicide, martyrdom, and how virtuous they may be, with the first example being the convoluted stance on it that Christianity takes. 

First and foremost, the Book of Exodus introduces the Ten commandments, and bared proudly on those stone tablets is the order "thou shalt not kill." As such, it is easy to assume that most good Christians would shy away from killing another person for fear of the many, many, many not so nice things that can befall them if they do anything to upset the bearded man in the sky. After all, God wasn't very happy with Cain when he murdered Abel (even though there are never any more stories of God being so explicit and open about his power and existence in the modern day like there were in the Old Testament. In any case, that is a quibble for another blog.) Thus, any type of killing will (supposedly) be punished by God. It is also assured that if a person dies after living a virtuous and devoted life that they will ascend to heaven (or purgatory, or a higher plane, or the clouds, or whatever a certain Christians conceptualization of the afterlife may be. Point is, you're good, you're dead, you're win.) The heavenly plane that a person ascends to is perceived as being physically higher and morally greater than the earth, which is perverted, dirty, and sinful by nature. Thus, a person wants to do everything they can during their mortal life to ascend into the kingdom of heaven and be rid of the horrible world of flowers, bunnies, families, lasagna, friends, and free will. 

So why not just commit suicide as soon as a person prays for forgiveness? Well, that would be murder. Fowlie, Dante Alighieri , and many other religious scholars believed that suicide was the equivalent of self murder, and even more reprehensible since it was an open rejection of God's gift of life. It was also impossible to ask for forgiveness for committing suicide since you were, well, dead. Canto XIII of the Inferno illustrates the Wood of Suicides/Self-Murderers, which shows the punishment of those who died at their own hand. 

But what if you are killed by someone else for your faith? Well, then you won the jackpot. Seriously, Martyrdom, by Christian Mythos, is the best way to go out. Think of some of the most famous theologians and how they went out: Jesus, Martyred; Paul, Martyred, Peter, Martyred. What were the people that Paul was persecuting? Martyrs. What did Pope Gregory I write about in Homilia in Evangelia? Martyrdom and the different degrees a person could martyr themselves. Modern writer Joseph M. Bryant even wrote in Vol 4, No 2 of the June 1993 issue of The British Journal of Sociology that, "Martyrdom for the faith...become a central feature in the Christian experience." Even the idea of being persecuted for ones beliefs is painted in a glorious light throughout the old testament. 

Many secular philosophers have a problem with this Ideology, specifically Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed that Martyrdom was silly, and that if a person wanted to commit suicide that that was their choice to make. Those who argue for euthanasia will often cite the case of "if a person is in a vegetative state and undergoing extreme pain without any hope for rehabilitation, then they should be let go." 

I will now turn the floor to discussion and ask: Is Martyrdom truly virtuous or is it just foolish? Is suicide reprehensible or redeemable? 

References

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_life2.html

http://www.egs.edu/library/john-locke/quotes/

http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000197

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_martyrs