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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Laws should concern outward conduct rather than thoughts ... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Justice & Punishment
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Laws should concern outward conduct rather than thoughts or dreams

    Justice & Punishment
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.An innocent person must be able to prove his or her innocence
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    • 2.A person can attempt to prove that they did not perform some action, but cannot prove that they never had some thought
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    • 3.Laws should make it as easy as possible for an innocent person to prove innocence
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Some mental states—like intent, premeditation, or mens rea—are legally inseparable from the wrongful act itself.
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    • 2.A law prohibiting only outward conduct without reference to intent cannot distinguish murder from accidental homicide.
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    • 3.If law must assess inner states to correctly classify conduct, the strict thought/action boundary Montesquieu draws is incoherent.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Kant argued that a will consistently directed toward wrongdoing possesses culpability independent of whether circumstances permit its expression.
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    • 2.If moral desert tracks the quality of the will rather than outcomes, a purely conduct-based law systematically mismeasures blameworthiness.
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    • 3.A legal system grounded in justice rather than mere social order cannot remain wholly indifferent to the inner states that ground desert.
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    Topics

    Justice & PunishmentRights & Liberty

    Connections

    2 topics

    Skepticism1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    A law prohibiting only outward conduct without reference to intent cannot distin...A legal system grounded in justice rather than mere social order cannot remain w...A person can attempt to prove that they did not perform some action, but cannot ...An innocent person must be able to prove his or her innocence
    +5 moreShow less
    If law must assess inner states to correctly classify conduct, the strict though...If moral desert tracks the quality of the will rather than outcomes, a purely co...Kant argued that a will consistently directed toward wrongdoing possesses culpab...

    Similar

    Only conduct that concerns others makes a person amenable to society's...70%Mill does not think that all other-regarding behavior may be regulated...69%Justice concerns the essentials of human well-being more nearly than o...68%Purely self-regarding conduct affects only the agent themselves.68%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: montesquieu
    View source passageHide passage
    Liberty also requires that the laws concern only threats to public order and security, since such laws will protect us from harm while leaving us free to do as many other things as possible. Thus, for instance, the laws should not concern offenses against God, since He does not require their protection. They should not prohibit what they do not need to prohibit: "all punishment which is not derived from necessity is tyrannical. The law is not a mere act of power; things in their own nature indif
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Laws should make it as easy as possible for an innocent person to prove innocenc...
    Some mental states—like intent, premeditation, or mens rea—are legally inseparab...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit