Clearly, a society's perception of suicide and its cultural traditions can influence the suicide rate. Greater societal stigma against suicide is thought to be protective from suicide, while lesser stigma may increase suicide.
The six commonest themes (of 16) were “apology/shame,” “love for those left behind,” “life too much to bear,” “instructions regarding practical affairs post-mortem,” “hopelessness/nothing to live for,” and “advice for those left behind” (see Table 1). Female suicide notes more often contained the themes “gratitude” (50 ...
Many forms of existentialist thinking essentially begin with the premise that life is objectively meaningless, and proceed to the question of why one should not just kill oneself; they then answer this question by suggesting that the individual has the power to give personal meaning to life.
“an act or omission is a suicide if a person intentionally brings about his or her own death, unless the death (a) is coerced or (b) is caused by conditions that are not specifically arranged by the agent for the purpose of bringing about death” (Beauchamp, 1996).
'Suicide's Note' by Langston Hughes is a short, three-line poem that is contained within one stanza. The lines themselves are also short. In total, there are only twelve words in the whole poem. Hughes did not choose to make use of a rhyme scheme or metrical pattern, meaning that the piece is written in free verse.
The speaker is welcoming death, and gives a simple reason for committing suicide. The speaker desire for death is shown by how the river was personified as a "Calm, Cool" asking for a "Kiss", beckoning the speaker into the river.
But what is philosophical suicide? Very briefly, philosophical suicide is an essentially ad-hoc attempt to explain away the inconsistency between the human desire for existential purpose and the apparent lack of such a purpose. The term is heavily related to the concept of the absurd as described by Albert Camus.
Nihilists, specifically passive nihilists, believe that there's no intrinsic meaning in life and “it is futile to seek or to affirm meaning where none can be found”. That's where the philosophy essentially ends. Absurdists, on the other hand, hesitantly allow the possibility for some meaning or value in life.
Camus identified existentialism with philosophical suicide in the series of the absurd, and with a reduction of human life to its historical dimension in the subsequent series of revolt. In each case, existentialism was seen as life-denying, and as such, as diametrically opposed to Camus's own life-affirming outlook.