altruistic suicide

Also found in: Medical.

altruistic suicide

the form of SUICIDE identified by DURKHEIM (1897) as occurring in highly integrated societies and in certain types of social organization where social integration is similarly strong. Examples of altruistic suicide are the euthanasia of the old and infirm as practised in some simple societies, or suicides of honour (e.g. among the military). See also EGOISTIC SUICIDE, ANOMIC SUICIDE.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

He thus defines four types of suicide, such as egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, anomic suicide and fatalist suicide.

The motivation of suicide

This type of behaviour was subject to terminological clarification in the work of Durkheim (1897), who classified it as altruistic suicide.

Suicidology

The other extremes of egoistic suicide and anomic suicide (known as altruistic suicide and fatalistic suicide, respectively) are also related to high suicide rates, but were not generally applicable to modern western societies (18).

An ecological study on suicide and homicide in Brazil/Estudo ecologico sobre suicidio e homicidio no Brasil

Yet it is also clear that in any ultimate analysis, the trans-ethical value of altruistic suicide, most explicitly endorsed in the sacrificial acts recounted in the 23rd chapter of the Saddharmapundarika Sutra, (4) which is determined not by consensus, but by the deep structure of mental-ethical motivation, is something that for the Mahayana also lies on the border between the conventional and transcendental realms.

Thresholds of Transcendence: Buddhist self-immolation and Mahayanist absolute altruism, part two

The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred among members of the military.

Understanding suicide attack: weapon of the weak or crime against humanity?

The work discusses such topics as traditional psychiatric reasons for suicide in films, pain, illness and disability, economic strain and suicide, death of loved ones, altruistic suicide, and international contexts for the portrayal of suicide.

Suicide movies; social patterns 1900-2009

On the other hand, suicide attacks qualify as altruistic suicide, committed by an individual who is too much integrated into his or her society.

The return of grand theory: terrorism and the end of postmodernism

Perceived burdensomeness, where a person comes to feel he or she is a burden to others, resembles the effect of excessively high integration Durkheim associated with altruistic suicide.

Reframing suicide in the military

Some philosophers have claimed that refusing expensive life-saving treatments and even altruistic suicide can be justified to avoid being a burden.

Reflections on refusing medical care: close relationships can give us reasons to care for others, even when the care is a burden. They can also give us reasons to accept care--even when accepting care means becoming a burden

The fifth ministerial meeting in Cancun, an event associated in many people's minds with the altruistic suicide of the Korean farmer Lee Kyung-Hae at the barricades, became Seattle II.

Man with a plan: an interview with one of Asia's leading critics of globalization

Altruistic suicide is a tendency for an individual to sacrifice self for the group, and anomic suicide is a response to social change whether good or bad.

Using reasons for living to connect to American Indian healing traditions

Durkheim, on the other hand, described the army as a case of chronic altruistic suicide.