Mutiny of an Error: Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard on Suicide

Abstract

In their philosophical work Ludwig Wittgenstein and Søren Kierkegaard both reflect on suicide as a response to existential despair. While Anti-Climacus, the pseudonymous author of The Sickness unto Death, rejects the contemplation of suicide as an outright barrier to an “awakening” of the self to its own sinful condition, Wittgenstein’s diary notes betray a different attitude towards such thinking; while he largely concurs with Kierkegaard’s characterization of despair, Wittgenstein strikes a less confident pose concerning the possibility of a leap into faith that would all at once overcome any thought of suicide.