# Socrates’ Voluntary Death — An Essential Voice Against the Pathologisation of Suicide

## TL;DR

This paper explores Socrates' voluntary death as a challenge to how society views and treats suicide.

## Contribution

It introduces an alternative perspective on suicide through the lens of honor-shame and social status.

## Key findings

- Socrates' death reflects motivations tied to preserving honor and avoiding shame in ancient Greek culture.
- The honor-shame framework can explain motivational processes behind suicide decisions across cultures.
- The paper advocates for rethinking suicide prevention and legal approaches based on this perspective.

## Abstract

The article focuses on the death of the Greek philosopher Socrates from the 5th century BCE as a significant inspiration for contemporary discourse on suicide (an essential voice against the pathologisation of suicide). It aims to highlight how an individual and their socio-cultural environment interact when dealing with the problem of death.

The psychobiographical approach used a single-case analysis as the starting point for theoretical discussion on suicide. The essential feature of the presented study is an interpretive-descriptive approach.

An analysis reveals Socrates’ motivations in the context of ancient Greek culture, particularly regarding the concept of honour-shame, which played an important role in the organisation of social and mental life in the Mediterranean world. However, the honour-shame dimension is not limited to ancient Greek culture; it is closely related to the universal concept of ‘social status’. Honour-shame and social status can identify and explain the motivational processes behind the suicidal decision.

The example of Socrates (who chooses death to avoid shame and preserve his honour) allows us to receive an alternative perspective on suicide, especially concerning the right to suicide and the problem of its medicalisation and pathologisation. In this light, we should also ask for an alternative design of preventive programs and legal assessments of suicide.