From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Oct 11 2000 - 08:05:55 MDT
From: Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>
>Yes. But killing the killer will not bring that person back. It
>will only result in another individual irretrievably lost.
True, but it will effectively punish the murderer for the crime
committed.
>A sentient, caring person can come to appreciate the enormity of
>the wrongness of the act if properly reformed and never perform
>such an act again. Many acts short of murder but also quite
>heinous cannot be undone. At best one can make what poor
>atonement one can and resolve never to perform in such a way
>again. Or do you believe all wrong-doers should be executed given
>your logic?
As I have stated, the death penalty is only for the crime of
murder.
What about a murderer who is not a caring sentient person, but a
monster, annoyed with being incarcerated for what he see's as
something the victim deserved for rejecting him, and never showing
the slightest remorse. (yes, this is from personnal experience)
You fail to address the issue of proper punishment.
>How can a sentient, caring person condemn another human being to
>irreversible and irretrievable death?
When that human being has committed an irreversible crime.
>> This could also lead to a dilemma: What if someone decided to
>> kill someone knowing the worst that could happen is that the
>> "bad part" would be purged. They would still accomplish their
>> task.
>It is not that simple by far. There is no "bad part". This is a
>strawman. Their task was a misaligned way of acheiving some goal.
>Cure the misalignment if you can.
You are addressing a rhetorical question, yes it is a strawman.
>Most likely many such murders would be avoided by better
>psychological and sociological practices before the fact.
I agree that this is where we should apply our efforts, but we must
still deal with failures.
>> Axiology: The branch of philosophy dealing with values, as those
>> of ethics, aesthetics, or religion.
>Cute, but hopefully incorrect as we very much require ethics
>especially as we become more powerful.
I was not trying to be cute, merely providing a definition as part
of the discussion, but I agree with your point.
Brian
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