Death with Nobility: Assisted Suicide, Aquinas, and the Virtue of Courage

I examine whether patients can inculcate the virtue of courage through the practice of assisted suicide. I explicate Thomas Aquinas’ account of courage, adapted to include all kinds of death, understood as the spiritual battle of the soul—a concept developed in the late medieval ars moriendi tradition. Applying this account to assisted suicide, I find that the practice does not stimulate courage in the agent. To die with dignity and autonomy, patients must embrace the battle rather than cede to suicide. In this way, they demonstrate the marks of the courageous man and pursue a noble end.