display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers
3 ideas
13319 | If we control our own death, no one has power over us [Seneca] |
Full Idea: No one has power over us when death is in our own power. | |
From: Seneca the Younger (Letters from a Stoic [c.60], 091) | |
A reaction: A classic slogan for the stoic view of suicide, an idea that crops up in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. He doesn't seem to have understood that they can take away your shoelaces. |
13298 | Suicide may be appropriate even when it is not urgent, if there are few reasons against it [Seneca] |
Full Idea: There are many occasions on which a man should leave life not only bravely but for reasons which are not as pressing as they might be - the reasons which restrain us being not so pressing either. | |
From: Seneca the Younger (Letters from a Stoic [c.60], 077) | |
A reaction: This is an interesting and startling claim from the great champion of suicide, who nobly and memorably committed suicide himself. But we all dread a loved one miscalculating Seneca's dialectic, and dying when living would have been better. |
13320 | Sometimes we have a duty not to commit suicide, for those we love [Seneca] |
Full Idea: There are times when, however pressing one's reasons to the contrary, one's dying breath must be held back as it is passing one's lips, even if this is torture, simply out of consideration for one's dear ones. | |
From: Seneca the Younger (Letters from a Stoic [c.60], 104) | |
A reaction: This is, of course, a highly significant counterbalance to his normal acceptance of suicide. I wish anyone who is planning suicide would heed it. They have no idea how much suffering will usually result from their action. |