Viewing Single Post From: Vigilantism: Good or bad?

Viewing Single Post From: Vigilantism: Good or bad?
+Reaver	Mar 18 2009, 05:45 AM
Troll Posts: 8,618 Group: Advisor Member #47 Joined: June 9, 2005	Dragon Hellfire I'm gonna disagree with the axiom 'the majority of people understand what is good for them'. "It logically follows" ... not convinced. So I ask then: who does know what is best for people? Men can easily rationalize laws which protect life, liberty, and property without over-extending the power of government. Dragon Hellfire What defines what "injustice" is, and how could it be objectively linked to positive results? Consider the idea of crime as a disturbance to equilibrium. When one person steals, as an example, the equilibrium status between those two individuals leans towards one side, as he has unfairly gained at the cost of another. Injustice would be the prolonged or continued support of this imbalance, whereas justice is the force which returns the situation back to equilibria. Dragon Hellfire Life and property and concrete, but liberty is abstract. Symbology anyone? Environmentally conditioned consensual opinions and representations are not objective. Liberty is the toughest to define, I will give you that. Certainly, in our society, we can extend "liberty" to cover freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, habeas corpus, and a right to a fair trial. For a more abstract definition, I would assert that "liberty" would permit any action which does not affect the rights to life or property of another individual in some way, shape, or form. Dragon Hellfire What is the worth of any number of persons? Why is it worth more than any number of blades of grass? Any number of rocks? Any number of dreams? How could we say what is "good" or "bad"? How is that our decision? Easy. We've assigned a value to human life. It's not a scalar value, nor a money value, but we certainly cherish human life to some extent. We can agree that the loss of something generally beneficial to people would be "bad" if done indiscriminately. Dragon Hellfire If we want to take what's good or bad for the represented and affected community, we could use the pleasure/pain system for good/bad (like that nub Epicurus taught). Well, we could. But I would then come back to argue that we have the protection of liberty - preventing the minority from discrimination under such a utilitarian system. I would furthermore assert that, as John Stuart Mill suggested, the natures of mental pleasure far outweigh physical pleasures. Dragon Hellfire (Question 6) It isn't really. For practical application we could synthesize a system for measurement, but making a decision doesn't imply the decision was intended as yours to be made. It just implies that you were the one that humbly made it. Well, we have reason. And using reason - and the imagination - we can make the best decision possible.
	Neon,June 8 2005 07:34 PM @Reaver: Me grammer is better than ur post count newbie. HJ, December 30 2008 06:20 PM You gave Inui his first (and last?) sexual experience, didn't you? That's historic. Favorite Staffer Summer 2008 -- Send me a Personal Message

Vigilantism: Good or bad? · Debate Forum