Søren Kierkegaard, the 19th-century Danish philosopher, confronted the profound and often taboo subject of suicide not as a medical or purely psychological phenomenon, but as an existential crisis rooted in the individual's relationship with self and God. In The Sickness Unto Death, he argues that despair, the fundamental malady of the human spirit, can manifest in forms that lead to the desire for self-annihilation. For Kierkegaard, suicide is not simply an act of physical death, but a desperate attempt to escape the burden of existence and the responsibilities that come with being a self. His analysis, therefore, offers a unique perspective on the human condition, suggesting that the path to overcoming such despair lies not in ending life, but in embracing the difficult process of becoming a true self.
Kierkegaard's conception of despair is central to his understanding of suicide. He defines despair as a "sickness of the self," a disharmony or a misrelation between the different aspects of the self: the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal, possibility and necessity. This internal tension, when unresolved, can lead to a profound sense of alienation and worthlessness. One form of despair, which Kierkegaard calls the "inability to be oneself," can lead an individual to wish they were someone else, or worse, to wish they were not a self at all. This desire for non-existence, for the dissolution of the self's tormenting consciousness, is what Kierkegaard directly links to suicidal ideation. He notes that the despairing individual might feel that their life is meaningless, that their suffering is unbearable, and that death offers the only escape from this perceived futility. The act of suicide, in this context, is a radical, albeit misguided, attempt to achieve a state of non-despair by ceasing to exist, thereby eliminating the self that experiences the despair.
Furthermore, Kierkegaard contrasts two primary ways of succumbing to despair: either by refusing to be the self one is, or by desperately wanting to be a self one is not. The former can lead to a passive resignation or a frantic attempt to dissolve one's identity, while the latter involves an overreaching ambition or a misplaced focus on external validation, both of which ultimately fail to ground the self. In both instances, the individual is not authentically relating to their own existence. Suicide, for Kierkegaard, represents the ultimate failure to confront and integrate these internal conflicts. Instead of actively working towards self-possession and self-acceptance, the suicidal individual opts for the most extreme form of self-negation. They fail to recognize that the self is not a static entity but a dynamic process, a task to be continually undertaken. The desire to cease existing is, paradoxically, a refusal to engage with the very process that would make existence meaningful.
Kierkegaard's ethical and religious dimensions are also crucial. He posits that the self is created by its relation to a power that established it, which he identifies as God. True selfhood, therefore, involves a conscious and willing relation to this divine power. Despair, then, is fundamentally a spiritual condition, a rupture in this essential relation. Suicide is the ultimate expression of this rupture, a defiant act against the creator and the gift of existence. For Kierkegaard, the challenge of existence is not to escape it but to forge a genuine self through faith and self-awareness. This involves acknowledging one's finitude and dependence while simultaneously recognizing one's infinite potential and eternal destiny. To choose suicide is to reject this possibility, to deny the inherent dignity and purpose that Kierkegaard believed was woven into the fabric of human existence. The philosophical and theological implications are profound: life's value is not inherent in its ease or pleasure, but in the struggle and the relationship it allows.
In conclusion, Søren Kierkegaard's examination of suicide in The Sickness Unto Death moves beyond superficial explanations, framing it as the most extreme manifestation of existential despair. By defining despair as a fundamental disharmony of the self, he illustrates how the desire for non-existence arises from an inability to confront the inherent tensions of being human. Suicide, for Kierkegaard, is a tragic misstep, an ultimate refusal to engage with the arduous but ultimately redemptive task of becoming a self in relation to God. His work compels readers to consider the deeper existential and spiritual underpinnings of suffering and to seek meaning not in the absence of struggle, but in its courageous embrace.