Dying of willful starvation/dehydration does not count as suicide

READ MY THESIS

An example from fiction to get the idea going. Think of the chimeras (an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation, e.g. a platypus bear) from full metal alchemist brotherhood. The chimeras made from two or more animals remained animalistic, having the features of two species, but continuing on without much trouble. The chimeras made from an animal and a human, using the philosopher stone (The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy. In fiction the philosophers stone can achieve what is beyond the laws of ordinary science and nature) got the best of both worlds, so to say the appearance, and general temperament of a human, and the instincts and special abilities of whatever animal with which they were fused. The chimeras made from a human and animal without a philosophers stone, on the other hand, resemble mostly the animal, and become disabled permanently, without hope of reversal, even with a remedial philosophers stone after the fact.

Two such chimeras were created by Shou Tucker. The first, made using his wife, earned Shou his state license, because the chimera could speak as humans do (the government under the impression, of course, that no human was used to make the chimera). The only words she spoke were “kill me” then she refused food and water until she died. The second chimera was made using Shou Tucker’s daughter and pet dog. Shou needed another speaking chimera to renew his state license. She died when she was killed shortly thereafter by a religious man who recognized her as an undoubtable “abomination” incapable of geurisson, that is to say the reversal of the alchemy and the separation of animal and human was impossible.


The interesting points of these tragedies are the death by refusal to eat and drink, and the irreversibility of the human chimeras. The death by starvation. Such an occurrence is incredibly rare, and I, of course, mean not the death by starvation in the absence of food and water, but death by starvation in the presence of ample food and water, (I admit, I have never heard such a thing happen in real life) and whenever it shows up in a story, the point is incredibly poignant, but not without a lingering subtle indignation. To refuse food and water when it will actively save your life, there’s nothing to think other than, and in the case of the first chimera, that Shou Tucker’s wife, knew the damage was irreversible, and thus unabashedly submitted to the fact that she was no longer human (unintentional Osamu Dazai reference). My God, what strength of Will it requires to refuse sustenance through to the threshold of death.

Such a circumstance I resent entitling a suicide. Suicide is a weakness.
; “get it done quickly, as painlessly as possible,” “let them feel guilty for what they have done to me,” “I do not care to continue my efforts to improve my life,” etcetera. This is a judgmental opinion by today’s standards, I admit, and not to detract from the tragedy of death by suicide, the death, by the refusal of food and water, under the certainty that the return to humanity is impossible holds no such spitefulness, narcissism, sloth, or any other wickedness to mention.

That is all.

 

You didn’t even read it dude

 

If that is your definition of suicide then you are absolutely correct. What I mean is that this manner of departure is not morally damnitive. Agreed?

 

No worries dude

But the case of the chimera, could you really call that a suicide? If you were fused with a lion, and you suffered a constant desire to eat people, that you know you will succumb to, is there really any other option than to refuse food? Suicide is choosing death when there are many other options. So I don’t think you could call it a suicide in that sense.

 

There is definitely a connection there somewhere. One of these days I should do the research to find the classical/biblical basis/inspiration for the chimeras.

The half angels half humans were Sodom and Gomorrah, right? Or were they Goliath?