Citation

Nadler S. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 2016; 24(2): 257-278.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016)

DOI

10.1080/09608788.2015.1084491

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Spinoza is often taken to claim that suicide is never a rational act, that a free person acting by the guidance of reason will never terminate his/her own existence. Spinoza also defends the prima facie counterintuitive claim that the rational person will never act dishonestly. This second claim can, in fact, be justified when Spinoza's moral psychology and account of motivation are properly understood. Moreover, making sense of the free man's exception-less honesty in this way also helps to clarify how Spinoza should, and indeed does, recognize the possibility of rational suicide. © 2016 BSHP.

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; ethics; honesty; Spinoza; free man; lying; reason