_Arguments against suicide._--1. If life has no moral end, one can unquestionably free one's self from it when it is too painful: if it has one, it is not permitted to set it arbitrary limits. 2. The wish to die does not constitute a right to die; otherwise, a similar wish might justify all crimes. 3. Thou sayest: Life is an evil; but if thou hast the courage to bear it, thou wilt some day say: Life is a good. 4. Physical pain may in extreme cases deprive one of the use of reason and will; but moral pain should be borne bravely. 5. No man is wholly useless; he has always some duties to fulfill. It has been justly observed, we think, that this second letter is feebler than the first, and that Rousseau displayed more talent in justifying suicide than in combating it; at any rate, the following peroration will always be considered an admirable passage to quote: "Listen to me, thou foolish youth: thou art dear to me, I pity thy errors. If thou hast at the bottom of thy heart the least feeling of virtue left, come to me, let me teach thee to love life. Every time thou shalt be tempted to put an end to it, say to thyself: 'Let me do one more good deed before I die!' Then go and seek some poverty to relieve, some misfortune to console, some oppressed wretch to protect. If this contemplation does not stop thee to-day, it will stop thee to-morrow, or the day after, or perhaps for the rest of thy life. If it does not stop thee, go then and die; for thou art not worthy to live." Suicide may be considered from three different standpoints, which are all three involved and blended in the preceding discussion: 1. Suicide is a transgression of our duty toward other men (inasmuch as, however miserable, one can always render some service to others). 2. Suicide is contrary to our duties toward God (inasmuch as man abandons thereby, without being relieved of it, the post intrusted to him in this world). 3. Finally--and this is for us here the essential point--suicide is a violation of the duty of man toward himself; as, all other considerations set aside, he is bound to self-preservation as a moral personality, and has no right whatsoever upon himself. _Kant's discussion._--Kant is, of all philosophers, the one who most insisted on this latter view of the matter, and developed it with the greatest force.