On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > If he axed you because he has a brain tumor that caused him to see you > as an alien monster, we wouldn't hold him culpable. > What's with this "we" business, speak for yourself I certainly would hold him culpable, I don't understand why that particular reason for his action would render him non-responsible but another reason for his action would render him responsible. > We'd operate on him, remove the tumor > If you could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that had fixed the problem (most unlikely) then I would be satisfied with that solution. > If he were coerced into axing you by a hostile government that was > holding his wife and children hostage and going to kill them if he didn't > do you in, we would consider him much less culpable > In that case it would be very unlikely he would ever again chase people with a ax and his punishment would be unlikely to deter people in a similar predicament from doing the same thing in the future, and so punishment would be pointless and be nothing but cruel. > If he did it on an impulse because you offended him (e.g. you told him he > spoke gibberish) we'd consider him less culpable than if you he had long > planned to kill you for money. > Again with this "we" business! I'd consider him MORE culpable if he did it on impulse over some trivial insult because that would mean he is a very very dangerous man; he is certain to receive other trivial insults just like that in the future likely causing more chasing with axes. And I would consider him LESS culpable if he did it for a large amount of money and planned the crime for 5 years because then he would be far less likely than the impulsive homicidal jerk to do something like that again. > "culpability" is roughly equivalent to how likely the perp or people in > his situation are to do it or similar again. > That's how it should be but that's not what society does nor how you explained it in your post. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
