You’ll note that the sentence you are taking down includes a rather explicit, “With a few exceptions,” before it. I would consider a hypothetical future society with omnipotent thought police to count as just such an “exception.” I would think mandatory brainwashing falls comfortably within the bounds of the concept, “punishment.” incidentally, I suspect that new words will evolve when (and if) new meanings exist—terms like thought-crime or pre-crime.
I saw nothing in the original post implying that the correct formulation of the criminal code involved omniscient robot police. More seriously, the original post is principally about the distinction between deterrent and non-detterrent punishment. I think commenters have sufficiently destroyed this distinction—the fact that punishment is not a deterrent ex post for party A does not mean it is not a deterrent ex ante or for parties B-Z.
On reflection I’m very confused by that sentence. It has two parts, after the “with a few exceptions” qualification: “a crime is a thing forbidden by law” and “being forbidden by law means that it carries a punishment”. Both of these seem to be definitions, and I’m not sure what sense it makes to give a definition while saying it has exceptions. The immediately following sentence said—with no qualifications—“If you aren’t punished for it, it isn’t a crime”.
So I’ll take your word for it that you didn’t mean to assert that being forbidden by law means, by definition, carrying a punishment; but I can’t see that it was unreasonable for me to think you were asserting that.
I don’t think the original post is principally about the distinction between deterrent and non-deterrent punishment. It’s about whether punishing institutions are there for reform, for deterrence, or because people just like punishing, with the suggestion that there’s a great deal of the last of those even though it’s usual to talk as if the first two are what matter.
You’ll note that the sentence you are taking down includes a rather explicit, “With a few exceptions,” before it. I would consider a hypothetical future society with omnipotent thought police to count as just such an “exception.” I would think mandatory brainwashing falls comfortably within the bounds of the concept, “punishment.” incidentally, I suspect that new words will evolve when (and if) new meanings exist—terms like thought-crime or pre-crime.
I saw nothing in the original post implying that the correct formulation of the criminal code involved omniscient robot police. More seriously, the original post is principally about the distinction between deterrent and non-detterrent punishment. I think commenters have sufficiently destroyed this distinction—the fact that punishment is not a deterrent ex post for party A does not mean it is not a deterrent ex ante or for parties B-Z.
On reflection I’m very confused by that sentence. It has two parts, after the “with a few exceptions” qualification: “a crime is a thing forbidden by law” and “being forbidden by law means that it carries a punishment”. Both of these seem to be definitions, and I’m not sure what sense it makes to give a definition while saying it has exceptions. The immediately following sentence said—with no qualifications—“If you aren’t punished for it, it isn’t a crime”.
So I’ll take your word for it that you didn’t mean to assert that being forbidden by law means, by definition, carrying a punishment; but I can’t see that it was unreasonable for me to think you were asserting that.
I don’t think the original post is principally about the distinction between deterrent and non-deterrent punishment. It’s about whether punishing institutions are there for reform, for deterrence, or because people just like punishing, with the suggestion that there’s a great deal of the last of those even though it’s usual to talk as if the first two are what matter.