Content Warning: This blog post discusses sensitive topics of self-harm and suicide that may be triggering to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.

One of the most taboo subjects considered one of the most immoral actions a person can take is to commit suicide. But why is this? Why do people view this deed as so harmful and look down on those that do decide to take their own life?

Using the criteria from the moral sphere, it can be said that suicide is a conscious act and thus be evaluated using the moral sphere. But does suicide affect well-being? The obvious answer is yes because suicide is the ending of someone’s life which most people do not view as beneficial, and when someone takes their own life, it hurts the people that love them, affecting their well-being.

From this surface analysis, it seems that suicide is outright immoral. However, when employing the moral sphere to determine if suicide is moral, immoral, or amoral, there are specific distinctions and personal factors to take into account. So, let’s delve deeper.

Firstly, when determining if other topics were moral, immoral, or amoral, we were always considering the well-being of others due to the action someone takes, not the person doing the deed. The moral sphere does not specify if the well-being in question is only for others or if this also includes the person performing the action. Can someone really wrong themselves if it was their choice to do so? Yes, when someone kills themselves they are harmed, but they did it willingly with the knowledge of the outcome, so are they hurting anyone in any way that can be considered immoral?

The next element to consider is who really matters in this situation? Most people might say suicide is immoral because it hurts the people that loved the person that took their own life. But why do they matter? Why is this about them? They were not meant to be hurt, they just happened to be an unfortunate side effect. Do people have a right to say that suicide is immoral because it negatively affects the people around them when it was never about those people in the first place?

The last consideration to take into account is how negatively affected is the suicide victim? No one kills themselves because they have a perfect life. People are pushed to suicide because they do not think their lives will get any better, and it seems like the only possible escape. If people are suffering when they are alive, is it wrong to judge them for wanting to be dead? Some people’s lives are so bad that their misery will only increase if they stay alive, but suicide can end it all. If suicide takes away all the pain, can it actually be considered moral?

These are all hypothetical questions meant to make you think about suicide in a different light. I am not entirely sure where I even stand on the issue. To me, the morality of suicide is a very complex issue because the victim thinks that they are doing what is best for them which ends up hurting others. Suicide is definitely within the moral sphere because it is a conscious act and affects well-being. But because it is difficult to determine whose well-being is actually impacted and whose actually matters, I would say that suicide is morally ambiguous.