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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Thu, 21 Oct 1999 00:50:22 GMT
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Viewed:
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1003 times
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<FJv3A6.J77@lugnet.com> <380CC30F.6FA2@mindspring.com> <FJv84y.79J@lugnet.com>
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James Brown wrote:
>
> Cop shoots someone, cop goes to jail.
>
> Cop shoots someone who is enacting a crime (observable), which is
> predetermined by law as a circumstance where it is permisable, cop doesn't go
> to jail.
>
> Cop shoots someone because (whatever), cop goes to jail.
> Do you see what I'm driving at? The why is irrelevant.
It appears to me that if the why behind a cop shooting someone is that a
predetermined circumstance (crime in progress) has been met. Thus, he
is not punished because of the why for which the killing took place.
> No one external to
> the individual can ever be 100% certain about "why" someone does something.
> However, it is possible to be 100% certain (assuming a WYSIWYG universe) about
> what is done and what the circumstances are.
I think the why has to be considered too. If this hypothetical (white)
cop shoots a black man allegedly in self defense and there are
conflicting eye-witness accounts of what happened, but it's clear from
some investigation that the cop is an active KKK member, should that not
be taken into account as a potential why?
These decisions about whether a cop killed someone appropriately are not
usually cut and dry cases. They require investigations and reading
between the lines. Motive is critical to determining the nature of the occurance.
> > I don't see how it can work, but I'm open to counter examples (or
> > analysis of why my examples above are invalid).
>
> I think that it's a fairly subtle but important difference between attempting
> to determine the why, and attempting to determine the what.
I don't think it's particularly subtle, but I think both have to be done.
Or maybe I'm missing the issue that the two of you are discussing...
Chris
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