(November 25, 2014 at 3:58 am)Sejanus Wrote: So we come to the problem of Paedophilia. If you think, as I do, that people have no control over having Paedophilic thoughts, and therefore should not be vilified for this attraction, what's to be done?I think that there are two separate things to consider. First: the issue of harm done to others. That requires action, such as laws and regulations that monitor and punish those who have molested children. Second: how pedophilia is viewed by individuals and society as a whole. I have no issue with people feeling sympathy for pedophiles if they feel that such urges are an ingrained part of their psyche, but that is separate from realizing that their actions can be devastating to others and must be curbed or punished.
I am not convinced that such urges are impossible to curb with proper psychiatric care, but I do not know enough about it to say that for certain. And I do think that given time we can learn enough to determine whether or not it can be 'treated or cured' or whether there is no recourse but to punish and monitor those who sexually abuse or assault children.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
