There's a personal aspect to it that I find difficult, too. Which is, even if society doesn't *need* someone, that's not the same as saying they're worthless. If I've got a choice between an honest cop and one on the take from a drug dealer, I'm obviously going to prefer the honest cop. Yet the corrupt one might be doing some real good in the world, too. That he's corrupt in one area doesn't (necessarily) mean he's not a good father, or husband, or that he won't stop other crimes or hasn't risked his life to save people.
Society doesn't need people like him, in the 'can't get the good without the bad' sense. Throwing him into exile or death may be a net benefit to civilization. And yet to do so ignores the good in his life.
But this is, perhaps, one reason we have punishment. Not just as a preventative and a deterrent, but as a form of acknowledgement. "We know you did this bad thing. We are going to punish you for it. There, now you've been punished, don't do it again and we'll consider it even." Maybe half the point of punishment is just to be able to say that the wrongs have been addressed, so that we don't need to keep trying to answer the unanswerable.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-04-28 09:02 pm (UTC)There's a personal aspect to it that I find difficult, too. Which is, even if society doesn't *need* someone, that's not the same as saying they're worthless. If I've got a choice between an honest cop and one on the take from a drug dealer, I'm obviously going to prefer the honest cop. Yet the corrupt one might be doing some real good in the world, too. That he's corrupt in one area doesn't (necessarily) mean he's not a good father, or husband, or that he won't stop other crimes or hasn't risked his life to save people.
Society doesn't need people like him, in the 'can't get the good without the bad' sense. Throwing him into exile or death may be a net benefit to civilization. And yet to do so ignores the good in his life.
But this is, perhaps, one reason we have punishment. Not just as a preventative and a deterrent, but as a form of acknowledgement. "We know you did this bad thing. We are going to punish you for it. There, now you've been punished, don't do it again and we'll consider it even." Maybe half the point of punishment is just to be able to say that the wrongs have been addressed, so that we don't need to keep trying to answer the unanswerable.