Rex Allen wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Rex Allen<rexallen314.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 6:21 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<stathisp.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>>
>>> Dennett didn't invent compatibilism. It has a long history and
>>> extensive literature.
>>>
>>> http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/
>>>
>
> Dawkins has some good things to say on the subject I think:
>
> http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_9.html#dawkins
It seems foolish to beat Basil's car because (1) we know the beating
will not improve it's function and (2) we know that is must be possible
to fix it (since we built it in the first place). However neither of
these is true in the case of dealing with a person who has committed a
crime (I disdain the word "criminal" as if it were a separate species).
Such a person may be deterred from further crimes by some punishment and
more to the point other persons may be deterred by the example.
Furthermore we have no idea how to "fix" the person in a mechanistic way
- and if we did would it be ethical (c.f. "Clockwork Orange").
Brent
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Received on Fri Sep 04 2009 - 11:54:35 PDT