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A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It

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By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht
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Buy for $19.10

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Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.

From the Stoics and the Bible to Dante, Shakespeare, Wittgenstein, and such 20th-century writers as John Berryman, Hecht recasts the narrative of our “secular age” in new terms. She shows how religious prohibitions against self-killing were replaced by the Enlightenment’s insistence on the rights of the individual, even when those rights had troubling applications. This transition, she movingly argues, resulted in a profound cultural and moral loss: the loss of shared, secular, logical arguments against suicide. By examining how people in other times have found powerful reasons to stay alive when suicide seems a tempting choice, she makes a persuasive intellectual and moral case against suicide.

©2013 Jennifer Michael Hecht (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Ethics & Morality Social Sciences Thought-Provoking Suicide Philosophy Sociology Morality Psychology & Mental Health Psychology Inspiring
Philosophical Survey • Rational Perspective • Pleasant Voice • Compelling Arguments • Heartfelt Approach

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Very well researched and well done. Can get boring at times and tends to repeat. However is worth the listen especially if you find yourself in the position of champion of life. Good secular argument for staying alive.

Lots of info, life saving even

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A compassionate secular view on suicide and a heart moving invitation to stay alive. I surely recommend it!

Wonderful

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The thing is, is she's like super smart and she knows more big words then you and how to say em. If'n yer like me n ya wanna know smart stuff, ya should probably get this book!

Good lernin!

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A rational look at the philosophy of suicide, statistics; a well spoken, articulate, wise, and generous book for those who have contemplated suicide or have known someone who has committed suicide. This is not a sappy self-help book, but a philosophical survey and a brilliant, articulate plea for understanding the arguments--beautifully read by the author. I didn't think anyone could make me change my mind about this controversial topic, but Hecht's put a few holes in my thinking. This is an impressive and necessary work. There's nothing else like it out there.

Renee Ashley

Brilliant, necessary book!

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My only quibble was that her prosody was irritating. As she reads, Hecht’s pitch and tone falls more often than not and I found myself wishing for a different reader. I suspect that she was reading as if she had written poetry and was fighting a tendency to raise the pitch and tone at the end of sentences and over corrected. I would listen to it again if it were read by a different narrator.

Highly recommend this book

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