Subject:
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Re: Motive vs Action (was Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 18 Oct 1999 18:39:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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1258 times
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James Brown wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Simon Robinson writes:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> > > This must be why I prefer the market to work things out. I don't think
> > > motives matter at all. It is demonstrated to be 'good' because the
> > > market rewards that behavior.
> >
> > Ha ha - I thought I'd get challenged on that one. I think when assessing
> > the morality of an action, it's crucially important in principle to take
> > motives into account.
> >
> > For example:
> > Fred is driving back from work. It's been a hard day, which is why he's
> > tired. He makes the mistake of driving a bit faster than he ought to, given
> > his weariness, which is why he runs over Sam (who was just crossing the
> > road) and kills her.
> >
> > Dave is driving back from work. He spots Paul up ahead, crossing the road,
> > and thinks 'that's the git who used to pull faces at me in school'.
> > So instead of slowing down to let Paul cross, he deliberately accelerates,
> > and runs Paul over and kills him.
> >
> > Both actions have exactly the same consequences. In both cases the driver
> > was in the wrong - but is anyone seriously going to argue that Fred's
> > 'wrongness' is as bad as Dave's?
>
> Yes.
> Neither you nor I are capable of judging motive. We don't know why Fred ran
> over Sam, or why Dave ran over Paul. The only people who know that are Fred
> and Dave, respectively. All that we can do is judge the action. Actions are
> observable, and judgable, intent is not.
Unfortuanately it seems to me that to have a workable society, we have
to attempt to judge intent. Without judging intent, either murder is not
a crime, and we can't punish anyone for being responsible for someone
elses life ending, or there are a lot of police, military, doctors,
prison guards, and just plain old citizens who have to be put away for
life (no death penalty anymore, since that would be murder).
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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