|
Suicide was a widespread occurrence in antiquity. There were many different forms used and many different reasons for committing suicide. Because taking one’s own life is morally confrontational, there are many different view points on suicide. These view points, although some may consider them modern, took root in ancient times. == History of suicide == (詳細はOxford English Dictionary'' places the first occurrence of the word in 1651. However suicide was seen with much disgust, therefore many did not put the word in their dictionaries, let alone vocabulary. They used phrases like “self-murder”, “self-killing”, and “self-slaughter” in place of suicide. They felt these phrases more appropriately portrayed how closely it related to murder.〔 Because suicide was believed to be closely related to murder, many worry about the welfare of the soul for one who has committed suicide. This became a major religious question, and there are many different religious views of suicide. Eventually, many scientists and doctors considered suicide as a possible illness. The doctors began assuming people only committed suicide when they were mentally ill. There were advantages to claiming it as a medical problem. Instead of condemning the person and looking down on their families, sympathy became the response. “The act was eventually decriminalized: the successful suicide could now be buried and his family was no longer disinherited; the unsuccessful suicide was spared execution”.〔 However, with these advantages came some disadvantages as well. Al Alvarez in his book The Savage God said, “Despite all the talk of prevention, it may be that the suicide is as rejected by the social scientist as utterly as he was by the most dogmatic Christian”.〔Alvarez, Al. The Savage God. New York: Random House, 1972. Print.〕 This referred to the fact that the more people began to recognize suicide as a mental illness, the more they turned away from the idea of it being a morally wrong action or a religious question. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Suicide in antiquity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|