Notes on Suicide by Critchley Simon (PDF)

Description

Suicide is everywhere. It haunts history and current events. It haunts our own networks of friends and family. The spectre of suicide looms large, but the topic is taboo because any meaningful discussion must at the very least consider that the answer to the question ― ‘is life worth living?’ ― might not be an emphatic yes; it might even be a stern no. Through a sweeping historical overview of suicide, a moving literary survey of famous suicide notes, and a psychological analysis of himself, Simon Critchley offers us an insight into what it means to possess the all too human gift and curse of being of being able to choose life or death. Five years after its initial publication, this revised edition of Notes on Suicide includes a new preface by the author addressing shifts in the discourse surrounding suicide, particularly in relation to social media.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I greatly appreciate Professor Critchley’s efforts to address this very antagonistic and emotionally laden subject in a rigorous and rational philosophical manner.From an eerie and personal perspective there is page 71. Professor Critchley describes his reaction to the death of his father. This was a thunder strike for me in that I had the same experience with the death of my mother only days prior to reading this essay! The timing, the ending, the description of the death scene and the perspective, were all the same, a remarkable parallel with my own experience. The impressions of the death scene that I witnessed of my mother were the same as those Professor Critchley describes as having experienced with his father. I read this description, I closed the book in disbelief and walked away, came back again; read it again; it was the same again. Death, dying and disease are very sticky and adhere to those close by the afflicted person. The book is poignant for me in knowing that author and I share a remarkably, and uncannily similar experience with the death of a parent.The only minor disappointment in this otherwise thoughtful essay on suicide occurred on p. 58. It is hear that I suppose professor Critchley could not help himself as he condescended to enter the fractious debate about gun control in the U.S. I found his comments on the subject to be incongruous with the subject of the essay as well as rather pedestrian and banal, unworthy of his otherwise subtle yet penetrating mind. The comments struck me as a kind of cheap shot or jab into an otherwise contentious complex public policy debate. The NRA provides an all too easy target and the issue is much more complex than the lobbying strength of the NRA. A deeper question is why the NRA has such strong support and what this tells us about our society, it is a symptom, not a cause. I find myself conflicted on the subject of gun control. I have no desire to live in a society where everyone feels the need to own a gun but then again, I have no desire to deprive otherwise responsible and law abiding citizens of the right to bear arms. I like having the freedom to own a gun and deciding not to own one. I choose not to own a gun based on the most likely use of it being upon myself.I do not necessarily disagree with Professor Crtichley’s sentiments on this issue of gun control, I was only disappointed to see the disturbing problem of homicidal rampages reduced to a curt comment about the NRA’s lobbying strength and the obtuse nature of the U.S. Congress. As a philosopher whom I hold in high regard, I was disappointed in Professor Critchley’s otherwise simple and all too easy comments on this subject, such comments are devoid of the philosophical rigor so characteristic of his work. Such borderline ideological comments are the stuff of the crude and crass debates that can be found in common media outlets of various political flavor, not in a philosophical essay.Professor Critchley aptly describes suicide as a weapon in our hands, much like a gun I ask? I feel that I have a right to own this weapon as well. I like having the freedom to commit suicide and deciding not to do it, at least for today. Tomorrow, I must again decide. This is a daily assessment that I must make and it comes with a maddening uncertainty each day but then, who is ever certain who isn’t self-deceived? The uncertainty is maddening, yes, but certainty only leads to paralysis of thought that would have us labor under the burden of self-deception. So I must still ask, is today a good day to live, and if so why? What are my reasons? Do I have a compelling reason for ending my life today or for continuing to live? Do I have a raison d’ etre in either case more than just the banality of life or is that enough in either case?

⭐Enjoyable and thought-provoking read on a very controversial taboo subject. Critchley makes this socially terrifying topic approachable with great prose and empathy. Highly recommend to better understand the mental reasoning behind something that could seem so “irrational”.

⭐The essay is brief enough to be finished in one sitting, yet still manages to address all the questions commonly raised bypeople contemplating about suicide, provide sound arguments, and give some concrete advice.On a side note, this book is printed on thick silky paper, which makes flipping the pages unexpectly plesant.

⭐A somber,extremely well written on the sensitive subject of suicide. Not one of those cheery “You have so much to live for !” books nor is it a cliche ridden “Suicide is not a solution to your problems.” Instead a balanced examination on the subject of suicide. Respects the reader enough to avoid all those tired tropes about not committing suicide. Very thought provoking, this book will stick with you.

⭐Awesome, Simon Critchley at his best!!

⭐Agree with most of the other reviews given here just a shame there are only 6 other reviews so far. A beautifully written book that makes one really think. The author recounts running a suicide note creative writing workshop in 2013 and the varied reactions he received – this was a funny yet also poignant part of the book.Judith Butler’s blurb on the back cover really sums up this book well ‘In (the author’s) view, “suicide saddens the past and abolishes the future”, establishing a problematic framework for grasping the whole of a life’.I would have rated this book five stars were it not for the inclusion of the Afterword – Of Suicide by David Hume. Twelve additional pages which weren’t needed in my view and were just a little too high brow for me, in complete contrast to Critchley’s writing style.Agree with one of the other reviewers – the end to Critchley’s book (page 76) about the importance of the here and now was a wonderful piece of writing and a reminder of something we all too easily forget.

⭐Wonderfully written. Very interesting topic.

⭐Terrific all round.

⭐I’ve ordered for a new book but The book I received has come with so many marks and so dirty like it’s used / old book.

⭐Fühlte sich schwafelig an. Habe die ersten 10 Seiten noch mit Interesse gelesen, den Rest habe ich dann sehr sehr stark quergelesen, weil sich die Ideen ab da nur noch wiederholen.

⭐

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