Subject:
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Re: Excellent news!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 3 Mar 2005 14:52:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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985 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
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You ask what would constitute a satisfactory deterrent/punishment for the
planned killing of another human being.
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(I’m breaking my own self-imposed rule about posting here, so I will deal
with me later;-)
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Be careful--I hear that you can be a real tyrant, so you’re in for quite a
conflict with yourself.
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Which is more precious: life or freedom?
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Hmm. At the risk of over-lawyering, I guess I’d need to be sure of the
parameters of the question.
Which is more precious: one person’s life or that same person’s freedom?
I
guess that’s up to the person, assuming that he or she is competent to make that
decision (which, I grant, is another debate in itself) However, given the fact
that so many prisoners continue to appeal their death sentences in hope of
commuting them to life-without-parole, I’d have to conclude that, for these
people at least, life is more precious than freedom.
Which is more precious: “life itself” or “freedom itself?”
I’d say that, by default, “life itself” is more precious, because without “life
itself,” “freedom itself” is basically just a thought experiment.
Which is more precious: one person’s life or “freedom itself?”
Again, that’s probably up to the person; I’m not sure that there’s a convincing
correlation between one and the other, and it’s probably not a black-and-white
deal in any case. Is everyone’s freedom, in the aggregate, more important than
one innocent person’s life? By what metric are we to compare them? Lacking a
clear means of assessing one against the other, I am inclined to conclude that
we have no basis for valuing freedom over one person’s life, especially if there
are other options besides simply killing that person. On the other hand, I
guess I can think of at least one dad who (the story goes) thought that
everyone’s freedom was more precious than his son’s life...
Welcome back to ot.debate by the way, however fleetingly.
Dave!
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Excellent news!
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| (...) (that's not actually a fair example, because those prisoners are trying to get from death-without-freedom to life-without-freedom. It's not an exchange of life and freedom.) Obtaining life-without-freedom opens the possibility of it being (...) (20 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
| | | Re: Excellent news!
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| (...) Who told you that!?? Was it one of my jerk employees?[1] (...) I agree with your assessments. I think that if certain individuals hadn't valued liberty more than life, our country wouldn't have been formed, and generally speaking, liberty for (...) (20 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Excellent news!
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| (...) (I'm breaking my own self-imposed rule about posting here, so I will deal with me later;-) I have a question I'd like to ask you that in my mind relates to this topic, Dave! Which is more precious: life or freedom? JOHN (20 years ago, 3-Mar-05, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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