Altruistic suicide
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| + | '''Altruistic suicide''' is [[suicide]] committed for the benefit of others. [[Falling on a grenade]] is one such example. [[Émile Durkheim]] notes that tribal people sometimes see it as their duty to commit suicide, as when a wife kills herself after her husband dies, or a man kills himself in old age; but Durkheim also observes that altruistic suicide is unlikely to occur much in modern western society where “individual personality is increasingly freed from the collective personality.” Altruistic suicide has been described as an [[evolutionarily stable strategy]]. Altruistic suicide has a long history in India, even being noted in the [[Dharmashastras]]. Some perceive [[self-immolation]] as an altruistic or "worthy" suicide. | ||
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| + | ==Cultural references== | ||
| + | *In the 1982 film ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'', the character [[Spock]] commits an altruistic suicide when he takes a lethal dose of [[radiation poisoning]] in order to make repairs so that the [[starship]] ''[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]]'' can escape destruction. He is noted for justifying his sacrifice with the line "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." | ||
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| + | *In the [[Power Rangers]] series, [[Power Rangers in Space]], in their season finale, '' Countdown to Destruction, Part 2'', long-standing franchise character [[Zordon]] instructs [[Andros]] to destroy his energy tube, which would destroy all the evil in the universe at the time, but take him with them. | ||
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| + | *In [[Alien 3]], [[Ellen Ripley]], the main heroine of the [[Alien (franchise)|Alien franchise]], learns that she has an unborn alien queen inside of her, which the Weyland-Yutani company plan to exploit as a bioweapon. She subsequently jumps into a vat of molten lead so the new alien queen cannot be born and reproduce. | ||
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| + | * The film [[The Ledge (film)|The Ledge]] centres on a character who commits suicide in order to save the life of another. | ||
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| + | * The film [[Seven Pounds]] portrays a man who commits suicide and donates seven of his organs. | ||
| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | * [[Altruistic suicide]] | ||
| - | * [[Assisted suicide]] | ||
| - | * [[Fatalism]] | ||
| - | * [[Micromort]] | ||
| - | * [[Nihilism]] | ||
| - | * [[Pessimism]] | ||
| - | * [[Self-immolation]] | ||
| - | * [[Suicide attack]] | ||
| - | * [[Cioran]] | ||
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Altruistic suicide is suicide committed for the benefit of others. Falling on a grenade is one such example. Émile Durkheim notes that tribal people sometimes see it as their duty to commit suicide, as when a wife kills herself after her husband dies, or a man kills himself in old age; but Durkheim also observes that altruistic suicide is unlikely to occur much in modern western society where “individual personality is increasingly freed from the collective personality.” Altruistic suicide has been described as an evolutionarily stable strategy. Altruistic suicide has a long history in India, even being noted in the Dharmashastras. Some perceive self-immolation as an altruistic or "worthy" suicide.
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Cultural references
- In the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the character Spock commits an altruistic suicide when he takes a lethal dose of radiation poisoning in order to make repairs so that the starship USS Enterprise can escape destruction. He is noted for justifying his sacrifice with the line "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
- In the Power Rangers series, Power Rangers in Space, in their season finale, Countdown to Destruction, Part 2, long-standing franchise character Zordon instructs Andros to destroy his energy tube, which would destroy all the evil in the universe at the time, but take him with them.
- In Alien 3, Ellen Ripley, the main heroine of the Alien franchise, learns that she has an unborn alien queen inside of her, which the Weyland-Yutani company plan to exploit as a bioweapon. She subsequently jumps into a vat of molten lead so the new alien queen cannot be born and reproduce.
- The film The Ledge centres on a character who commits suicide in order to save the life of another.
- The film Seven Pounds portrays a man who commits suicide and donates seven of his organs.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Altruistic suicide" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
