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Full Idea
Were the disposal of human life so much the peculiar province of the Almighty that it were an encroachment on His right, for men to dispose of their own lives; it would be equally criminal to act for the preservation of life as for its destruction.
Gist of Idea
If suicide is wrong because only God disposes of our lives, it must also be wrong to save lives
Source
David Hume (On suicide [1775]), quoted by Jonathan Glover - Causing Death and Saving Lives §13
Book Ref
Glover,Jonathan: 'Causing Death and Saving Lives' [Penguin 1982], p.170
A Reaction
A characteristically wicked and neat point. Maybe we can intervene in the environment (diverting a falling stone), but not directly in a life? Life is sacred, but stones are not?
| 4677 | If suicide is wrong because only God disposes of our lives, it must also be wrong to save lives [Hume] |