Autonomy and suicide in Kant: an antinomy?

Published 2022-08-25 — Updated on 2023-10-13
Section Articles

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61144/0718-9397.2022.454

Abstract

This article shows, within the Kantian corpus, and in the Lectures on Ethics in particular, the topic of suicide, which is presented as one of the least studied topics in Kant's philosophy. However, it is interesting to pay attention to the way in which the philosopher constructs his argument, so that his opposition to the same fact does not seem contradictory, but precisely the opposite, he qualifies it as an immoral act, but how could the father of autonomy to object to a fact apparently based on autonomy?


Keywords: Kant, autonomy, suicide, Lectures on Ethics

Author Biography

Francisca Reyes Arellano, Universidad de los Andes, Chile

MA in Bioethics (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile). PHD (c) in Philosophy (Universidad de los Andes, Chile).

References

Referencias

Anscombe, E. (1958). Modern Moral Philosophy. Philosophy, 33(124).

Cholbi, M. (2000). Kant and the irrationality of suicide. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 17(2), 159-176.

Entrican, E. (2009). Is Kant’s Concept of Autonomy Absurd? History of Philosophy Quarterly, 26(2), 159-174.

Kant, I. (2016). Fundamentación para una metafísica de las costumbres (R. Aramayo, Trad.). Alianza editorial.

Kant, I. (2017). Lecciones de ética (R. Aramayo & C. Roldán, Trads.). Austral.

Kant, I. (2018). La metafísica de las costumbres (A. Cortina & J. Conill, Trads.). Tecnos.

Kant, I. (2012). Fundamentación de la Metafísica de las Costumbres (R. Aramayo, Trad.). Alianza.

Reath, A. (2006). Agency and autonomy in Kant’s moral theory. Oxford University Press.

Uleman, J. K. (2021). Suicide (selbstmord). En J. Wuerth (Ed.), The Cambridge Kant Lexicon. Cambridge University Press.

Wood, A. (2011). Kantian Ethics. Cambridge University Press.

How to Cite

Reyes Arellano, F. (2023). Autonomy and suicide in Kant: an antinomy?. Akadémeia Magazine, 21(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.61144/0718-9397.2022.454 (Original work published August 25, 2022)