University Honors

In ethical philosophy, the ìkilling and letting dieî argument discusses whether a moral distinction exists between killing someone and letting them dieóan extension of the ìdoing and allowingî argument. There is some sense of intuition in which we understand that this distinction exists between doing harm and allowing harm to be done to another. However, this intuition disappears when shifting the discussion from two parties to one partyóin other words, it is not intuitive whether there is a distinction between killing oneself and letting oneself die. This capstone project is concerned with determining whether a possible distinction between killing oneself and letting oneself dieóor in synonymous terms, an ìactiveî and ìpassiveî suicide. In order to examine a possible distinction between the two, an intention-based account of suicide was created, under which suicide is defined using terminology such as want, means, end goal, and intention. Utilizing this new framework for suicide, we revisited our notions of active and passive suicide in order to determine if a distinctive nature between the two could possibly exist. Discussion highlights that, with the want and end goal being the same in both cases, a possibility for a distinctive nature of active and passive suicide exists on the basis of intention and action.