Walking the Tornado's path
The case against empathy

Augustine on suicide

I haven't been able to progress very far in The City of God.  I'm only about twenty (small) chapters into book one (or about 30 pages).  In the last bit I read he discussed suicide, which he was very against.  I am intrigued by how the last three philosophy books I read by Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucretius are so concerned with death.

In my last reading, what disturbed me was his discussion of some virgins who were raped and then killed themselves.  He says that one can't judge them (even though he is against suicide) because their shame was just too great.  Gosh.  Why not question the social mores that created that shame?  Is it only modern to ask those sorts of questions?

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