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| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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| | | Survival. Insanity. Ambition. Ignorance. Biology. | |
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< | These are all explanations for human behaviors. Based on a reason, we excuse behavior, we blame behavior, we sympathize, we criticize, we hope that we are different, and we hope that we are the same. There are multiple spectrums by which we judge people for their behaviors, depending on our moral stances, experiences, and empathy. | >
> | All of these are explanations for human behaviors. Based on a reason, we excuse behavior, we blame behavior, we sympathize, we criticize, we hope that we are different, and we hope that we are the same. There are multiple spectrums by which we judge people for their behaviors, depending on our moral stances, experiences, and empathy. | | | Survival | | | Insanity | |
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< | Insanity, though, meets with a response of pity. Poor soul, biologically inflicted with an inability to be normal. Genetically predisposed to be haunted by voices, thoughts, uncontrollable angst. But, we are not like these people, nor act as they doI Their actions are easily explainable; nature made a mistake. The insane ones don’t need blame, they need help. | >
> | Insanity, though, meets with a response of pity. Poor soul, biologically inflicted with an inability to be normal. Genetically predisposed to be haunted by voices, thoughts, uncontrollable angst. But, I am not like these people, nor act as they do. Their actions are easily explainable; nature made a mistake. The insane ones don’t need blame, they need help. | | | Ambition | |
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< | It’s easier to identify with ambition, but harder to sympathize. I understand the feeling. I know about the tight-knit ball that is waiting to explode and the unceasing itchiness when productivity is at a minimum. But ambition doesn’t feel like a good enough excuse. It’s not a good enough excuse for Ex-CEO Stewart Parnell, and it’s not a good enough excuse for Captain Shah (if some version of events are to be believed). We like success stories, but we don’t like success stories that involve stepping on other people for that success. Even though, isn’t that what success comes down to? Perhaps, we just don’t like salient callousness associated with ambition. So the ambitious ones can be blamed, they should know better. | >
> | It’s easier to identify with ambition, but harder to sympathize. I understand the feeling. I know about the tight-knit ball that is waiting to explode and the unceasing itchiness when productivity is at a minimum. But ambition doesn’t feel like a good enough excuse. It’s not a good enough excuse for Ex-CEO Stewart Parnell, and it’s not a good enough excuse for Captain Shah (if some version of events are to be believed). Don’t we all like success stories? Well, not so much when they involve stepping on other people for that success. Even though isn’t that what success comes down to? Perhaps, we just don’t like salient callousness associated with ambition. So the ambitious ones can be blamed, they should know better. | | | Ignorance | |
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< | I do not like tolerating ignorance. Ignorance suggests not knowing things that can easily be known. Ignorance connotes laziness. Ignorance hurts others. The ignorant ones can be blamed too, for we are better than they are, but they could easily become us. | >
> | I do not like tolerating ignorance. Ignorance suggests not knowing things that can easily be known. Ignorance connotes laziness. Ignorance hurts people. The ignorant ones can be blamed too, for we are better than they are, but they could easily become us. | | | Biology | |
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< | Every action that we judge, however, is controlled by our brains. Our brain affects our personalities and behaviors.[1] Brain tumors resting on an amygdala can affect sexual appetite. Frontal lobes, when compromised, disinhibit people. An increase in dopamine-impersonators turn people into gamblers and alcoholics. The brain is the neurological basis for all of our preferences and actions. We are all born with our brains. Our brains are shaped by our environment growing up. If we made enough neural connections in our brain before a certain age, we get to have certain skillsets. If our cortisol levels are higher than average, we stress more often. If we have an above average amount of testosterone, we are more aggressive. | >
> | Every action that we end up judging, however, is controlled by our brains. Our brain affects our personalities and behaviors.[1] Brain tumors resting on an amygdala can affect sexual appetite. Frontal lobes, when compromised, disinhibit people. An increase in dopamine-impersonators turn people into gamblers and alcoholics. The brain is the neurological basis for all of our preferences and actions. We are all born with our brains. Our brains are shaped by our environment growing up. If we made enough neural connections in our brain before a certain age, we get to have certain skillsets. If our cortisol levels are higher than average, we stress more often. If we have an above average amount of testosterone, we are more aggressive. | | | So how can we blame someone for their actions when it’s based so much on biological processes and mechanisms? | | | A misstep in brain wiring will result in the condemnation of a person as a criminal. A extra bundle of hormones can change how aggressive someone is, how empathetic, how willing they are to fight to survive. Tom Dudley, for instance, with a little more oxytocin and a little less testosterone may not have been able to kill the boy. | |
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< | Our Lives
I don’t meant to argue that we should uproot our entire criminal justice system because we cannot blame anyone for their actions. Nor do I mean to say that no one can be held accountable for their actions. But, I do mean to say that we should consider carefully our gut reactions and current laws regarding other people’s actions. If we don’t think about our own reasons behind our judgments and actions, we are living in a world where the only reason for how we behave may be tradition itself. | | | | |
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< | “It’s how it’s always been done” sounds a lot like ignorance to me, and I’m not willing to accept that so easily. | >
> | Consequences
I don’t meant to argue that we should uproot our entire criminal justice system because we cannot blame anyone for their actions. Nor do I mean to say that no one can be held accountable for their actions. But, I do mean to say that we should consider carefully our gut reactions and current laws regarding other people’s actions. Our laws originate from a time distinctive from our own. As the world becomes increasingly secular, modern laws in most first-world countries are trending towards not accepting solely historical or religious-based rationales as acceptable ones. Laws against sodomy and adultery, for example, are vastly eliminated. We have started to rethink our conceptions what right and wrong. If we don’t continue to do so, we’ll be stuck living in a world where the only reason for how we behave may be tradition itself. | | | | |
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> | Instead, the questions we have to continuously ask are what behaviors should be punishable, how to punish those actions, and how to deter those actions. | | | | |
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< | [1] Eagleman, D. (2011, August). The Brain on Trial - The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520/
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> | “Optimal” Behaviors | | | | |
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< | Responsibility is a puzzle. In the end, here, you were ready to say what you didn't mean to argue for. Not even, quite, what you did mean to argue against. Because responsibility is a puzzle. So the man whom you might have quoted at your end on the repulsiveness of having a rule solely because it was laid down in the time of Henry IV, asked instead, trying to solve the puzzle piecewise, whether punishment deters. Deterrence, as any despot can tell you, doesn't depend on responsibility. But despite the self-certainty of my dear friend the econodwarf, we really still don't know.
So once again, for purposes of improvement, let's ask what comes
next. We cannot assert with full confidence where in the cascade of
circumstances that is what happens to happen responsibility begins.
We also cannot aspire to the rule of law without some concept of
responsibility that keeps us from shooting some citizens _pour
encourager les autres. Nor are we arguing in favor of the abolition
of criminal law. Good. Now what?
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> | In our current era, “optimal” might be closest identified with a limited version of the harm principle, where all laws try to prevent harm, but the laws do not encompass all types of harm. There is extreme vagueness in the way our laws are constructed, and often, laws will not pass until someone is or will be harmed and other people care (or are fearful of the damage). But this vagueness is what allows for our society is adapt. Knowledge that we instigate the most change when we are motivated by personal feelings may help us better empathize with others' plights. Questioning what is known then the start for the process of rebirthing laws that fit our society. | | | | |
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> | The change might be slow, the injustices may never end, but our responsibility to constantly revise and rethink without relying too much on just tradition serves one of the most important duties that we, as a society, have. Only when we blindly or purposefully turn away from this task will we become a society that has much to be blamed for. | | | | |
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> | [1] Eagleman, D. (2011, August). The Brain on Trial - The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520/ | | |
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