Positive knowledge about suicide in nineteenth-century: philosophical aspects

The article examines the formation of scientific knowledge on suicide in the 19th century medicine and psychiatry. The principal questions that become the basis for the research paradigms are formulated, as well as the understanding and the perception of a man who attempted to commit a suicide. The main problem discussed in the article is problematisation field transformation in the research of suicide. Until the 19th century suicide was predominantly viewed as a religion and morality problem: the representatives of these areas of knowledge possessed the primary right to make judgments on suicide. The situation changed in the 19th century when suicide was recognized as a psychiatric problem, both theoretically, and practically. For its explanation a psychopatho-logical model for suicide explanation was created, which later became grounds for the development of suicidology. The fundamental conclusion the author of the article comes to, is the assessment of the position of the person who committed suicide or attempted to end his life. The psychiatric model bereaves him of the right to be called a man and take responsibility for his actions, rather it makes him a patient that should be isolated and treated by any means possible.