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hardman52 t1_jd6ez9x wrote

Reply to comment by KBSMilk in In-depth interview with Gregg Caruso, free-will skeptic by fatsosis

Well if there's no free will then we can't help but choose to punish criminals. And since they have no free will but continue to be anti-social, then we have no choice but to lock them up or execute them.

See the kind of problems you get into when you discuss free will on this shallow basis?

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KBSMilk t1_jd6jvw6 wrote

What problem? What shallowness? You have described reality. The criminal's fate was to do harm and be harmed. They are helpless. They are to be both pitied and guarded against, but not hated. Not punished further for the poor hand they were dealt.

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hardman52 t1_jd6ot6q wrote

But we can't help but punish him. It's our fate, right?

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KBSMilk t1_jd6pbwb wrote

Ok, I should clarify that I mean punishment in a vindictive manner. I see it as separate from results-based methods of handling criminals. We should lock someone up until we think they're not going to hurt anyone again, and no longer. As opposed to locking someone up forever because they hurt someone in the past, or executing them for it. Pragmatism or punishment is a matter of intent.

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