Mayo D J
J Med Philos. 1986 May;11(2):143-55. doi: 10.1093/jmp/11.2.143.
Suicide has been condemned in our culture in one way or another since Augustine offered theological arguments against it in the sixth century. More recently, theological condemnation has given way to the view that suicidal behavior must always be symptomatic of emotional disturbance and mental illness. However, suicide has not always been viewed so negatively. In other times and cultures, it has been held that circumstances might befall a person in which suicide would be a perfectly rational course of action, in the same sense that any other course of action could be rational: that it could be sensible, i.e., defensible by good reasons, or that it could be in keeping with the agent's fundamental interests. Indiscriminate use of modern life-sustaining technologies has renewed interest in the possibility of rational suicide. Today proponents of rational suicide tend to equate the rationality of suicide with the competence of the decision to commit suicide.
自公元6世纪奥古斯丁提出反对自杀的神学论据以来，自杀在我们的文化中一直以某种方式受到谴责。最近，神学谴责已让位于这样一种观点，即自杀行为必然总是情绪困扰和精神疾病的症状。然而，自杀并非一直被如此负面地看待。在其他时代和文化中，人们认为可能会出现这样的情况：对一个人来说，自杀是完全合理的行为方式，就如同任何其他行为方式都可能是合理的一样，也就是说，它可能是明智的，即有充分理由可辩护的，或者它可能符合行为者的根本利益。现代维持生命技术的滥用重新引发了人们对理性自杀可能性的兴趣。如今，理性自杀的支持者倾向于将自杀的合理性等同于自杀决定的能力。
