RE: Moral justification for the execution of criminals of war?
August 11, 2022 at 7:22 am
(This post was last modified: August 11, 2022 at 7:47 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(August 10, 2022 at 11:53 pm)bennyboy Wrote:Negatron, they have an ongoing vested interest in a particular kind of society - the definition of the social contract. Again, the social contract is not a legal construct, it is not about rights, or laws. Rights and laws are (ostensibly) about the social contract. Easy way to remember. Deontology is top down, social contract is bottom up. There is no "lower rung" or tier. A society that doesn't kill presented with a killer has a choice. Kill the killer, and thus become like him in that they have all now breached that contract -or hold to it themselves despite that killers breach.(August 10, 2022 at 9:49 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Any given killer may have stepped out on the this hypothetical social contract, but the society hasn't.
I think we can say this is the essence of the argument right now. When the individual steps out of the contract, and (in my view) has surrendered his rights as provisioned BY that contract, then what does it mean to say that the society hasn't?
There must be something lost by members of the society in executing criminals-- they must have an ongoing vested interest in the biological well-being of a serial killer.
Quote:I get that. If life is not intrinsically valuable, then someone has to (gets to?) determine an arbitrary value-- life X is worth maintaining, life Y is not. And that's a dangerous slope to build on purpose. I wouldn't want a Republican-loaded supreme court to start adding trans people, gays, or atheists to the list of lives not worth protecting.Life being valuable is one possible explanation - but so is valuing honor or virtue, or avoiding taboo, or the harm that executions cause to executioners..and any number of other things.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
