Talk:Suicide

Mises remarks

I guess you're right that Mises didn't explicitly mention suicide in that chapter, although he mentioned that when "the forces of resignation get the upper hand, man dies; he does not turn into a plant". That sounds like suicide to me. The hospice patient who quits eating or drinking any longer because he has given up on the possibility of future accomplishments or enjoyments would fit very well the description of what Mises is writing about. Nathan Larson (talk) 14:02, 31 October 2012 (MSK)

Common responses, by other libertarians, to libertarians who express suicidal ideation

• "You should kill the tyrants, not yourself" (note, however, that if a libertarian actually does attempt to do this, libertarians will immediately distance themselves from him, regarding him as a possible agent provocateur or at best a rash individual)
• "You have a duty to yourself to preserve your own life" (see also John Stuart Mills' arguments at http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Philosophical_views_of_suicide#Classical_Liberalism)
• "It takes more courage to live for a noble cause than to die for it, and it will do more good for the world" (thus replacing "Give me liberty or give me death" with "Give me liberty, please, sir. I am prepared to wait the rest of my life for you to grant my request, whilst patiently going about my business within the restrictions imposed by legislation.")

Leucosticte (talk) 21:38, 3 January 2014 (MSK)

Common responses, by politically apathetic persons, to libertarians who express suicidal ideation

• "What about your family?"
• "Don't get so upset about living in a non-free society; focus on what's more important."

Both of these responses assume that the suicidal person is being nihilistic (i.e. finding life meaningless and therefore not caring what happens to others or to the world); and yet politically apathetic people are arguably the most nihilistic people of all. As wikisource:Cato's Letter No. 62 points out, "Indeed liberty is the divine source of all human happiness." To not care about liberty, then, is to not care about human happiness. Only a person who believes life (and therefore the happiness that is the purpose of all human endeavor) is meaningless would be apathetic toward those things. Leucosticte (talk) 00:59, 4 January 2014 (MSK)