Friday, 18 May 2012

Ethics:Discussion, Reflection, Synthesis ( What is the right thing to do?)


Igor Primoratz addresses the issues on capitalism as he states; “For there seems to be a certain amount of discrimination and injustice not only in sentencing people to death and executing them, but also in meting out the penalties.  If this argument were valid, it would call not only for abolition of the penalty of death, but for doing away with other penalties as well.  But it is not valid.” The right to take away one’s life is always seen as an immoral action. If the right to take away life is not accepted, why is capital punishment practiced in some regions of the world?
The immorality action of taking ones’ life is always punished when applicable in today’s world, with our strong law system which applies to almost every society and community. The responsibility of the actions we make and commute within our families, societies, lives, etc; is always outlined by the law system that applies to our everyday lives – reminding us the consequences of the various actions we decide to make. As Kongfuzi states in his philosophical studies, “What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others,” can apply to the issue of capital punishment. This issue, as address in the article above, can we applied and is supported by this Chinese philosopher as  it is believe, if you commit murder ,the punishment of death will be applied to you. Thus, the right thing to do, if considering the philosophers opinion, would be applying the capital punishment. However then many ethically and inhuman questions arises. Who has the right to life? If a person does not have the right to take another persons’ life, why is the law system allowed to take away the murderer’s life? The capital punishment is therefore practiced as many legal systems do believe it is the suitable punishment for that specific person. 

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