The case for not killing yourself

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with Clancy Martin, professor of philosophy at University of Missouri Kansas City, about his powerful new book How Not to Kill Yourself, which combines personal memoir and philosophical analysis to explore what it means to pursue self-destruction. They discuss wisdom from the Buddha and Albert Camus, Clancy's view that he is a suicide "addict," and concrete strategies for escaping the grip of suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, the suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached by dialing 988. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Clancy Martin, professor of philosophy, University of Missouri-Kansas City; author References: How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind by Clancy Martin (Pantheon; 2023) Facts about suicide (from the CDC, and the WHO James Hillman, Suicide and the Soul (1973) "Lessons from jumping off the Golden Gate bridge—survivor shares his story to help others" by Keisha Reynolds (MyCG; Sept. 8, 2022) Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Suffering of the World (1850) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Sean.
0:02.6	Today's episode deals directly with suicide.
0:05.2	If you or someone you know is struggling, the suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached
0:09.9	by dialing 9-8-8.
0:15.6	Is life worth living?
0:17.7	Albert Camus called this the only serious philosophical question.
0:22.2	To be or not to be, as someone else wants to put it.
0:25.9	We don't choose to be born into this world.
0:29.3	But we do have the power to decide to leave it.
0:35.9	And people do make this choice.
0:38.2	A lot.
0:39.8	The CDC estimates there were 1.7 million suicide attempts in the year 2021, in the US alone.
0:49.9	Perhaps more staggering is the estimation that more than 12 million Americans reported
0:54.4	thinking seriously about suicide in that same year.
0:59.0	Even how widespread those thoughts are.
1:01.6	And how obviously urgent this issue is.
1:04.1	It's unfortunate that, as a society, we really aren't able to talk about suicide in a more
1:10.4	dignified way.
1:13.3	Many of us still think of those who die by suicide as morally blameworthy.
1:19.0	When a celebrity takes their own life, we think, why?
1:22.4	They had everything.
1:24.3	And what we mean by that is that we think certain other people's lives are great and worth
	...

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