Arthur Schopenhauer s Suicide As An Experiment - 1719 Words

Arthur Schopenhauer describes suicide as an experiment, a question that man puts to nature and demands an answer. The majority of those who commit suicide don’t have Schopenhauer s idea of experimentation in mind, but rather their mind is clouded by depression and stress. Suicide is not a danger that disproportionately affects the expected teen and young adults, but it has sunk its teeth into an unlikely demographic, and the way to combat this beast is still unclear. The most classically expected group to commit suicide in numbers much higher than the rest of the population are those that are teenagers and young adults. Suicide rates in middle aged men have witnessed a sharp increase, the baby boomers have become the surprising group to be affected by suicide most, even outnumbering teenagers and the elderly (Parker-Pope). The group of baby boomers who is now most prone to suicide has actually had higher rates of suicide across their entire lives (Phillips). The newest discovery that the group who is now most likely to commit suicide should logically be the happiest and some of the most mature, but for various reasons the middle aged have become the most at risk for suicide. With about 30 out of 100,000 middle aged men committing suicide compared to about 11 in 100,000 teens and young adults committing suicide, experts have been analyzing why such a sharp increase has occurred amongst those in midlife, and why it is so much larger than the group of young people who are