Culture, Suicide, and the Human Condition

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78238-234-8
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 492 g

Suicide is a puzzling phenomenon. Not only is its demarcation problematic but it also eludes simple explanation. The cultures in which suicide mortality is high do not necessarily have much else in common, and neither is a single mental illness such as depression sufficient to lead a person to suicide. In a word, despite its statistical regularity, suicide is unpredictable on the individual level. The main argument emerging from this collection is that suicide should not be understood as a separate realm of pathological behavior but as a form of human action. As such it is always dependent on the decision that the individual makes in a cultural, ethical and socio-economic context, but the context never completely determines the decision. This book also argues that cultural narratives concerning suicide have a problematic double function: in addition to enabling the community to make sense of self-inflicted death, they also constitute a blueprint depicting suicide as a solution to common human problems.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Honkasalo, Marja-Liisa

Tuominen, Miira

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie Kulturpsychologie, Ethnopsychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychotherapie / Klinische Psychologie Psychopathologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Tod, Sterbehilfe: Soziale und Ethische Themen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction: Culture, Suicide, and the Human Condition

Marja-Liisa Honkasalo and Miira Tuominen

PART I: SUICIDE: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 1. The Construction of the Suicidal Self in Phenomenological Psychology

Charles J-H Macdonald and Jean Naudin

Chapter 2. When it is Worth the Trouble to Die: The Cultural Valuation of Suicide

María Cátedra

PART II: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL APPROACHES TO SUICIDE

Chapter 3. “Tell Him to Follow Me as Quickly as Possible” – Plato’s Phaedo (60c–63c) on Self-Killing

Miira Tuominen

Chapter 4. Free Philosophers and Tragic Women – Stoic Perspectives on Suicide

Malin Grahn

Chapter 5. Moral Philosophical Arguments against Suicide in the Middle Ages

Virpi Mäkinen

PART III: MORALITY, POLITICS, AND VIOLENCE - SUICIDE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES

Chapter 6. “She Kissed Death with a Smile”: The Politics and Moralities of the Female Suicide Bomber

Susanne Dahlgren

Chapter 7. “When We Stop Living, We also Stop Dying” – Men, Suicide, and Moral Agency

Marja-Liisa Honkasalo

Afterword

Arthur Kleinman

Notes on Contributors

Über Autor(innen)

Tuominen, Miira
Miira Tuominen is a University Lecturer in philosophy (University of Jyväskylä) and currently works as an Academy of Finland Research Fellow. She has published two monographs Apprehension and Argument: Ancient Theories of Starting Points for Knowledge (Springer 2007) and Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle (Acumen/University of California Press 2009) and numerous articles. She has worked at two centers of excellence in Finland, at the Centre for Advanced Study (Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters), and at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study.

Honkasalo, Marja-Liisa
Marja-Liisa Honkasalo is Professor of Culture and Health at the University of Turku, Finland. She has worked as Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study and as Professor in Medical Anthropology at the University of Linköping, Sweden. She has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and at La Sapienza, Rome. She has published monographs, edited volumes and numerous articles in international series on illness and death and has been awarded The Steve Polgar Professional Prize for the best article published in 2009 by the Society of Medical Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

Marja-Liisa Honkasalo is Professor of Culture and Health at the University of Turku, Finland. She has worked as Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study and as Professor in Medical Anthropology at the University of Linköping, Sweden. She has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and at La Sapienza, Rome. She has published monographs, edited volumes and numerous articles in international series on illness and death and has been awarded The Steve Polgar Professional Prize for the best article published in 2009 by the Society of Medical Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).