Suicide is the act of deliberately causing one's own death. In the 19th century, both in Europe and Slovenia, suicide was no longer seen as the result of sin, but of madness. The following thesis deals with attitudes towards suicide and an overview of suicide in the last decade of the 19th century Slovenia. First, the definition of suicide, the most common causes and methods are presented, and then the thesis focuses on the conception of suicide itself in the 19th century. The prevailing opinion was that suicide was increasing, and various studies on the subject began to be undertaken in the 19th century, yet suicide was still strictly stigmatised and condemned. At the same time as the statistical study of suicide was evolving, a new approach was also developing in the medical field, which began to link suicide with mental disorders at the turn of the 20th century. The main aim of this thesis is to present an overview of the attitudes and rough statistics of suicide in Slovenia. The perception of suicide depended on cultural, religious, and social factors. In European countries, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, the act of suicide was redefined and decriminalised. In the Christian tradition, suicide was considered a sin and was therefore punished and stigmatised. This was also the position of Catholic moralists. Their opponents, the liberals, did not condemn suicide, but tried to raise public awareness on the subject. In addition to these attitudes, the thesis also deals with the attitude of heredity, which states that people, who committed suicides should have certain biological predispositions. This attitude and the theories derived from it have been refuted over the centuries. The end of the thesis deals with an overview of suicide in Slovenia between 1890 and 1900. After newspapers have been examined, an analysis of the age and sex of the person follows. The possible causes and methods by which these people committed suicide will also be analysed.
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