Abstract
The common consensus on suicide seems to be that even if taking one's life is permissible on some basis, it cannot be morally obligatory. In fact, one argument often used against Utilitarianism is that the principle sometimes requires individuals to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others, as in the case of healthy individuals who can donate all their life saving organs to those in need of transplants.
However, a plausible philosophical case can be built for morally obligatory suicide. First, although not a standard interpretation, it seems clear Kant thought some crimes so morally repugnant that the moral agent should commit suicide rather than performing the former. Using this interpretation, I will strengthen and defend a Kantian argument for morally obligatory suicide in situations of crimina carnis contra naturum.
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10677-006-9025-7
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Cooley, D.R. Crimina Carnis and Morally Obligatory Suicide. Ethic Theory Moral Prac 9, 327–356 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-005-9003-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-005-9003-5