Philosophy of Suicide Involves Two Term Paper

On the other hand, Schopenchauer argues that because happiness is fundamentally unobtainable, humans are faced with a life of disappointment, which thus leads to the disconnect that causes suicide.

However, if both of these philosophers' theories on the cause of suicide were taken at face value, it would be surmised that every human would commit suicide and thus the extinction of the human race would be inevitable. Yet, this is obviously not the case, and both philosopher's explain why. According to both Camus and Schopenchauer, this absurdity and disconnect that we face is exactly what gives our lives meaning. In other words, the human existence means a commitment to a struggle in the face of the absurd in order to survive.The majority of humans are able to embrace this meaning, some are incapable of coping. As Schopenchauer points out, it is more often the intellectual beings that are the most likely to be unable to cope. It is this exception to the rule of human life that leads to the act of suicide: those who refuse to accept the fact that life has no meaning are the ones who have embraced the philosophy of suicide.

Bibliography

Camus, Albert. (1991): The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. New York: Knopf Publishing Group.

Flynn, Thomas. (2006): Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Guignon, Charles B. (2001): Existentialism: Basic Writings. New York: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. (1966): The.....