Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The debt-of-gratitude variation of the gift analogy also fails to prohibit suicide, because disposing of one's life is not inconsistent with expressing gratitude for having lived.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The debt-of-gratitude argument holds that humans owe God gratitude for life and thus must not kill themselves.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Disposing of one's life does not preclude having expressed or felt gratitude for one's life.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore suicide does not necessarily constitute ingratitude toward God.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Gratitude, as Aristotle argues in the Nicomachean Ethics, is an affective disposition expressed through acknowledgment and reciprocal action, not indefinite prolongation of a received benefit.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A recipient who fully acknowledges and cherishes a gift before returning it has satisfied the normative demands of gratitude, since gratitude concerns the relational attitude, not the perpetual retention of the gift.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore, a person who has lived with genuine thankfulness for existence fulfills the debt-of-gratitude obligation regardless of how or when life ends.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.David Hume in 'Of Suicide' argues that if we owe God gratitude for life, that obligation is equally consistent with using life well and concluding it deliberately as with prolonging it passively.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Stoic philosophers, particularly Seneca, held that the freedom to exit life is itself evidence of providential generosity, making a grateful acceptance of that freedom logically coherent with theistic gratitude.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.An obligation of gratitude cannot coherently demand that one endure conditions under which the gift has ceased to confer benefit, since gratitude tracks the value received, not mere possession.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.