Johan Robeck
Johan Robeck was a Swedish-German theologian and philosopher who wrote an essay in defense of suicide, and later drowned himself in the river Weser.
Life
Robeck was born in Kalmar, Sweden, and raised in the reformed religion. He studied in Uppsala, before going to Hildesheim in Germany, where he converted to Catholicism in 1704. He joined the Jesuits and lived in Rinteln, Westphalia.He wrote an essay justifying suicide from a theological point of view, titled Exercitatio philosophica de morte voluntaria, which was published posthumously by. His book started a debate among Europeans of his time, which included Rousseau and Voltaire, especially after he himself committed suicide by drowning in the river Weser near Bremen, Germany.
According to Robeck's argument, anyone may destroy a gift, the giver having given up any rights in it; therefore, as life is a gift from God, suicide cannot offend against God.