Spinoza and Self-Destruction: Oppression and Suicide

This thesis project argues that Spinozism provides a useful framework for contemporary suicide studies. In Chapter 1, I introduce the project. In Chapter 2, I develop a reading of Spinoza's philosophy of suicide which holds both that suicides are externally caused and that suicide may sometimes be rational. In Chapter 3, I show that Spinozism demands that we make it so that suicide is never forced to be rational, and this demands abolishing oppression, despite the fact that Spinoza is certainly not an oppression theorist in the contemporary sense. In Chapter 4, I explain two risks present in the three main models of contemporary suicide research. In Chapter 5, I use the Spinozist framework as an interpretive tool for suicide studies, and explain how the Spinozist framework avoids the issues discussed in Chapter 4. I also emphasize the need to abolish oppression and provide evidence that good living is possible.