El suicidio como el arte de morir reflejado en los pensamientos de los filósofos Séneca y Philipp Mainländer

Abstract

The present work is the result of a reflection on suicide, a phenomenon that has to do with a transcendental decision for man as an individual and for society. In fact, a study on the subject can be very useful to understand the reality of the contemporary man, particularly those who suffer from terminal diseases, being unable to face life, or lacking motivations to resolve boundary situations. The disposition to interrupt the life can be preceded by a serene reflection or the result of a more visible, more spontaneous sensibility. In any case, the decision of the suicide is preceded to a great extent, by decisions of himself with different causalities. As a human phenomenon, suicide has tried to explain different models: psychoanalytic, sociological, psychiatric and philosophical, each of them has given a different vision of the types and causes that can precede this drastic decision. The present hermeneutic investigation has the purpose of contributing to the educational community an unprejudiced view of the decisions that men make around their lives. Also analyzed are the main interpretations of suicide as the art of dying, from ancient times to modernity, through the assessments made by Lucio Anneo Seneca, a Roman philosopher, politician, orator and writer, distinguished for his moralistic works; So are the assessments of the German philosopher Philipp Mainländer, at the end of the 19th century. It should be emphasized that it is not only a question of deepening the knowledge of the phenomenon, but also of linking the problems posed by Philosophy, about the human existence to approach the current reality, which shows an increase in suicidal behavior.