[lbo-talk] Death penalty (was: Singapore)

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Fri Oct 5 11:02:24 PDT 2012


"Justice" implies the existence of mutual dependency of groups with opposed interests. It there are opposed interests but no mutual dependence one group may merely liquidate the other. If there is only mutual dependence without opposed interests there is no need for justice. If there are too many deer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at the beginning of winter, there will be mass starvation because available food will be exhausted before spring comes. Among humans if two groups cannot both survive one will slaughter or drive out the other. UNLESS the groups must _also_ both survive for either to survive. Then the situation gets complicated, & systems of justice evolve, balancing conflicting but mutually dependent interests.

Carrol

Prior to around 1000 c.e. there had been plentiful rainfall on the Great Planes and a large population of Neolithic farmers developed.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On
> Behalf Of andie_nachgeborenen
> Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 12:28 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Death penalty (was: Singapore)
>
> No, I'm not familiar with that. My paper isn't mainly concerned with the
death
> penalty or any institutionalized form of punishment. It is a long way from
revenge
> as a form of justice to institutionalizing any policies of punishment in a
legal
> system. I am mainly concerned with showing that revenge is a form if
justice and
> how it works. Whether, to what extent, and how it might have a place in
social
> policy, for example in legal punishment, are questions for another day.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Oct 5, 2012, at 11:31 AM, Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > On Oct 5, 2012, at 12:18 PM, andie_nachgeborenen wrote:
> >
> >> I have a draft paper on revenge as a form of justice, not yet ready to
be seen,
> in which I discuss the usual theories and propose my own. Revenge, I
believe, as
> do most people, underlies the concept of retribution. I argue that revenge
is a
> form of justice that has a logic of its own and is not mere
bloodthirstiness. I don't
> try to link revenge into retribution and officially sanctioned punishment.
My object
> is to just show that it is more than than lower brain blood lust and
eligible in
> principle for consideration for a place In an account of punishment. I do
not think
> that anyone except the handful of extreme utilitarians really reject
> revenge,although I do think revenge is poorly understood. In all modesty I
think I
> may be the only person who understands it,as I have a novel account that
is as
> far as I know quite original. I don't think lack of a generally accepted
theoretical
> account disqualifies revenge or any deeply held consideration from
potential
> inclusion in pol!
> icy. I and many people who think about this are not pure revenge
theorists; as
> federal and other sentencing laws provide, just deserts and
proportionality, two
> revenge-based considerations, are generally balanced with other factors in
arriving
> at what seems like a socially acceptable and more or less fair punishment
for
> wrongdoing. So I think that it is is very rare that considerations if
revenge are
> imposed with no regard to consequences and other factors.
> >
> > I hope your paper discusses the Marquis de Sade's justification for his
> opposition to the death penalty (which of course nearly got him executed
and did
> get him confined to an insane asylum)--that each family has the
responsibility to
> enact retribution for outrageous crimes, as in Pushtunwala (which, of
course, he
> had never heard of).
> >
> > Shane Mage
> >
> >
> > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> > kindling in measures and going out in measures.
> >
> > Herakleitos of Ephesos
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ___________________________________
> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list