Contemplating Suicide - The Language and Ethics of Self-Harm (Hardcover)

Suicide has long posed problems for philosophy. Philosophers, such Albert Camus, have situated in the center of the debate about metaphysics and the meaning of life. Hegel understood death to be the raison d'etre of philosophical project. And scores of other since them have treated suicide as central to the West's understanding of itself. In "Contemplating Suicide," Gavin Fairbairn takes a fresh and philosophical look at suicide. He examines the nomenclature of suicide, and how the language of suicide affects our understanding and denigration of "suicidal bodies."
Fairbairn offers cogent reasons for abandoning the mindless use of terms such as "attempted suicide" and "parasuicide," and introduces a number of terms including "cosmic roulette," which he uses to describe a family of human acts in which people gamble with their lives.
By elaborating a richer model of suicidal self harm than most philosophers and most practitioners of caring professions currently inhabit, Fairbairn has contributed to the development of understanding in this area. Among other things a richer model and vocabulary may reduce the likelihood that those who come into contact with suicidal self harm, will believe that familiarity with the physical facts of the matter - the actions of the suicider and the presence or absence of a corpse - is always sufficient to justify a definite conclusion about the nature of the self harming act.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Social Ethics and Policy
Release date:	March 1995
First published:	1995
Authors:	Gavin J. Fairbairn • Gavin Fairbairn
Dimensions:	216 x 138 x 22mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	224
ISBN-13:	978-0-415-10605-4
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Death & dying > General Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Ethics & moral philosophy > General
LSN:	0-415-10605-2
Barcode:	9780415106054

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!