A friend of mine recently committed suicide on Tuesday, May 5. He walked into an incoming train. He had a girlfriend at the time, and although I don't know why he did it, I was wondering if he actually thought that would solve whatever problem he had. Is suicide ever worth it or is it ever justified? I know it's frowned upon in most (if not all) religions.
I'm sorry for your loss. To lose a friend is terrible.
I agree with much of what has been already said. Perhaps if we were all completely independant it would be a different matter, but as things stand, each of us has a mother and father at the very least, and friends. I wouldn't go so far as to say that suicide is a selfish act, but it certainly displays either a disregard or a lack of thought with respect to those around us. Personally I could never commit suicide, at the very least because I know it would wreak havoc on my mother's mind. I couldn't do that to her, ever. (There are other reasons too, just that's one I believe many folks can share with me).
Albert Camus was one of the first existentialists. He claimed that there is one critical question that must be answered before any more philosophizing can be done: Is life worth living?
If the answer is yes, there isn't any problem really, and things can proceed as normal. If the answer is no however, the logical answer would be to terminate your existence, because it isn't worth living. The thing that I believe made this "philosophy" great, is that it isn't really any kind of high an mighty logical thing, it's simply experience and some common sense. So, there are valid cases for suicide. Being tortured incessantly seems to say that life isn't worth living, or losing everything and everyone you cared for, perhaps. Camus also had one other thing to say about the decision to terminate your existence, however. While it does make sense, we can take it upon ourselves to go on anyway. It seems to be more noble in a way to go on without hope. Maybe there's nothing to be gained from it, but if you keep fighting all the way to the grave, who can say that you were a quitter, or doubt your will to press on?
Here's one example of such a situation: a prisoner of war.
They lock a guy in a cell and torture him for information every day, and he has no hope of escape. The guards aren't fools, the walls are steel, the bars are hard and cold. All he has to look forward to the next day is them torturing him for something he doesn't know. So he can ask himself "Is my life worth living?" I don't know anyone who's going to say yes in that situation. So he says no, it's not worth living, and the next step would be to terminate it. But he never kills himself. Instead, he does pushups. Reads whatever he can find, does jumping jacks, sings and makes himself some music. Gets himself into a routine. "What's the point?" a guard might ask. Surely he knows he'll never be freed. Every day the guards feed him his gruel and every day he's in there doing his pushups and singing and reading. Eventually they might get around to asking themselves "Just what is it that makes this guy tick?" He has nothing to live for, he has no reason for his routine or what he's doing. So time goes on, and it's the same thing every day. Pushups in the morning, torture in the afternoon, a bit of singing then sleep. One day, a guard might watch this guy for a minute and just say "Damn." Why? Because he won't give up. He made himself something to do out of nothing. It's not worth it, but he does it anyway. Maybe the next day they shoot him in the head because they've wion the war, but they never broke him, and he made the decision not to give up.
None.