222SUMMUM BONUM
Christian ethics traditionally forbids
suicide as part of the general prohibition
against homicide as well as on the
grounds that suicide abrogates divine
providence and the prerogatives of God,
viz. the time of your death is not up to
you. In the face of evidence that some kill
themselves in states of insanity or chronic
depression that robs them of the power of
free agency, some Christians recognize
exculpatory conditions that disassociate
suicide and murder. Controversy has
emerged when persons may undertake an
act that will end their lives in an honor-
able fashion, as (for example) when
morphine is administered to a person ter-
minally ill and this will in turn hasten (or
cause) death. Jewish ethics allows that
some acts are permissible involving self-
sacrifice that are akin to suicide, in a just
cause.
SUMMUM BONUM. Latin, “the highest
good.” The term has been used to refer to
that which is of the greatest value. This
greatest value may be a single thing (e.g.,
pleasure) or it may be complex (e.g., a
combination of practical, aesthetic, cog-
nitive, and sensory activities and states).
SUPERNATURAL. From the Latin super,
“above” and natura, “nature.” Refers to
God or gods or incorporeal agents such
as angels or demons. Because “super-
natural” is sometimes associated with
the “superstitious,” some use the term
“supra-natural” to refer to God and / or
other realities that are beyond corporeal,
cosmic agents.SUPERSTITION. From the Latin super,
meaning “above” and stare meaning “to
stand;” superstition means “to stand over.”
Used as a term of disapprobation. A belief
is superstition if it is held in the face of
strong counter-evidence, based on fear,
or based on an inadequate amount of
evidence.SUSPICION. Like skepticism, suspicion
involves withholding assent to propo-
sitions. However, whereas skepticism is
directed toward truth, facts, or evidence
offered in support of truth, suspicion
is directed toward the people offering
the evidence, or toward their motives
for offering them. Suspicion is thus a
matter of hermeneutics, or of the art of
interpretation.
Suspicion is a useful took for critiqu-
ing religion, because it allows the critic to
set aside evidential claims and to focus
instead on an examination of the reasons
why people have religious belief in the
first place. Examples can be found in
Feuerbach’s argument that God is a pro-
jection of human self-consciousness or
in Marx’s idea that religion is ultimately
a political ideology. Similarly, Nietzsche
and Freud offer accounts of religion based
in the psychology of resentment or desire.
More recently, Daniel Dennett has argued