Philosophy

rrneck

(17,671 posts)

8. The burned hand teaches best.

Thu Apr 4, 2013, 12:51 AM

Apr 2013

I think we would have to teach him to punish himself. As I understand it the original definition of a "cell" was a small room for contemplation (usually in a monastery). I guess the idea was that if you were confined in a room small enough the only place you could go was inside yourself.

Of course solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment as well, so for us to consider ourselves morally upright and compassionate humans we would have to go in there with him. As it stands now we just warehouse people for profit. If we were to do it right we would have to invest enough in him to make him a whole person. And as bad as he is that would take a lifetime if we were lucky. Maybe that's our punishment and our impetus to do better.

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My first impression... [View all] rrneck Apr 2013 OP

to ask why one does/feels something, isn't this the question that holds us Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2013 #1

Ain't it the truth. rrneck Apr 2013 #7

The fate of each of us... discntnt_irny_srcsm Apr 2013 #2

Thread win. rrneck Apr 2013 #5

An interesting question discntnt_irny_srcsm Apr 2013 #9

thanks for posting this Kali Apr 2013 #3

Beggars the imagination doesn't it? rrneck Apr 2013 #4

I agree with what you say about punishment Kali Apr 2013 #6

The burned hand teaches best. rrneck Apr 2013 #8

I'm going to contrast John Stuart Mill with Marque de Sade. ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #10

clarify this phrase, please - and thanks ZombieHorde Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2013 #11

When someone is given a death sentence in the US, they are entitled ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #12

I thought that was what you meant ... do you have a link for that? Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2013 #13

This website looks at some indivudual states and the federal government. ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #14

I've always found rrneck Apr 2013 #15

It's very unsatisfying to me as we'll ismnotwasm Apr 2013 #16

I mostly chose them because it was easy to argue from those perspectives, and I dislike Kant. ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #20

Both are wrong, imo, and the second is ridiculous. Dash87 Apr 2013 #18

Consider the meat culture in first-world countries. ZombieHorde Apr 2013 #19

That's true, but maybe we're all morally wrong for Dash87 Apr 2013 #21

First response - Emotional. Dash87 Apr 2013 #17