Hi Dave, Rick, Platt, Horse, and all others interested in the death
penalty,
> Is it ever,ever, ever... (under MOQ) moral for society to kill someone for
> what that society defines as a crime worthy of such a punishment?
> recently Texas chain dragg'n variety.
> Question: Is it moral, under MOQ ,that society (any society) kill you?
> My read is that Pirsig says NO? Platt says, Pirsig's dialogue convinces him.
> I'm not! Convince me.
I guess what's moral would depend on your point of view. Do you mean
biologically moral, socially moral, or intellectually moral?
Biologically, I think the guy should be shot. I don't think he
contributed much to the gene pool.
Socially, I think he should be shot again. He's a danger to the lives
of other people, so he forfeits his own right to life. He has disrupted
society.
But intellectually I think he should be spared and perhaps
rehabilitated. I realize rehabilitation is next to impossible in an
American prison (Amnesty International recently cited the US as a
near-the-top human rights abuser because of our prison system). But I
still think he should be spared if for no other reason than to give him
plenty of time to think about it. Who knows, he may have a contribution
to make that advances the social or intellectual levels, and I don't
think the death penalty has been much of a deterrent anyway. If it were
he might not have done it in the first place.
For the intellectual level to survive it must respect and value the
levels beneath it. I think killing, for whatever reason, would be an
immoral act for the intellect. We talk about the conflicts between the
levels and how the intellect is the highest (and therefore best) level,
but I think it's important too to always remember the debt of
responsibility the intellect owes to the biological and social levels
below it. The intellectual level exists at the grace of its parents.
Does this make any sense?
Best wishes,
Mary
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