tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post5126713998414730307..comments2024-03-27T20:37:09.185-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Deontology and double effectAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-53242688427352619982016-01-07T14:18:57.725-06:002016-01-07T14:18:57.725-06:00I think that's not so much a response to the C...I think that's not so much a response to the Con argument as another Pro argument. To respond to the Con argument, we need a diagnosis. Your word "failure" is helpful.<br /><br />I think the case of shooting the shooter is stronger than the justice system case. For it is not implausible that (a) a fallible justice system should not have the death penalty, and (b) imprisonment can be permissibly imposed on the innocent in order to save enough lives.<br /><br />And while I don't agree with (a) (I think the death penalty is justified in some very rare cases that probably don't occur in peacetime), claim (b) can be defended. A military draft is permissible when necessary for national defense. But being made to fight in a war is a harsher treatment than imprisonment in a humane jail (and of course we shouldn't have inhumane jails) for a comparable time period. (One might have special worries about longer terms of imprisonment/service, but it would be odd if suddenly a deontic prohibition showed up when the term, say, exceeded 15 years.)Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-8212090710814926272016-01-07T12:57:08.705-06:002016-01-07T12:57:08.705-06:00Against the Con argument is the fact that it would...Against the Con argument is the fact that it would rule out engaging in any kind of fallible justice system. You can predict that some number of criminal trials, no matter how carefully structured, are going to convict innocent people. But that shouldn’t be a reason not to have a justice system.<br /><br />I think the diagnosis that these failures of the justice system (or of the murdering-Glossop detection system) are side effects is accurate. That is why they are FAILURES of the system. <br />Heath Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13535886546816778688noreply@blogger.com