PHL 304 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Trial, Retributive Justice
Document Summary
Justice (desert): is it ever proportionate to an offense, then it is just. Life is valuable, need to be alive to value it. Taking their life away is an atrocity, a moral outrage, can only be repaid with death. If a murder is not killed, she"s still having experiences, valuing things. Brings up abolitionist arguments, and shares why he thinks their unconvincing. Abolitionist arguments: capital punishment is illegitimate because it violates right to life that everyone has, even murderers. To claim that this right is absolute is a different matter. If someone kills someone, no one can argue for them that life has absolute value. Cant make the argument after crossing the line: death penalty prohibits murder, but advances it simultaneously. Not contradictory to kill a murder because it is the just response: different people. An old man is murdered by young man, who still has his whole life ahead of him.
