Altruistic suicide: a look at some issues.
Examples of recent cases of martyrs are examined in order to identify the basic issues of whether martyrdom can be viewed as altruistic suicide. Several issues are identified: whom does the act have to benefit, does the act have to have its intended consequences or is the intent sufficient, does the martyr have to be thinking rationally, and whether execution by the state can be viewed as altruistic suicide.
Lester
David
D
Department of Psychology, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona 08240-0195, USA. lesterd@stockton.edu