Topic: Justice Under Anarchy - page 4. (Read 21518 times)
This still doesn't address the problem that I presented in the other thread. If the parents harm their own child, who then is responsible for bringing justice? What would define harm in this case under a state in anarchy? After all, Islam openly permits a father to marry off his daughter at eight years old.
What is justice and what does it means to have a just society?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle
What is justice and what does it means to have a just society?
Does anarchy mean that you can rape or kill whoever you like and get away with it? No, there will still be justice under anarchy. However, since it will not be supported by tax dollars, it will need to be paid for somehow. Who picks up the bill for justice? That's simple. It will be paid for by those receiving protection and also those that necessitate spending money in the first place i.e. the criminals. If you steal something, you will have to pay restitution, returning or replacing the item you stole, paying the costs of enforcing justice on you and also paying a fine to make it so that the incentive for stealing and risk of not getting caught vs. the risk of cost plus the fine, make it unprofitable, on average, to steal.
That's fine so far but it sounds like the rich will get more justice than the poor under such a system. It's a good thing nothing like that happens under our current system! (sarcasm) However, let's say that Bill Gates kills you and then writes a check to your family. Murder is just something else that rich people can buy now, right? Not quite. There's nothing stopping your family from killing Bill Gates and then handing the check back to his family. By killing people and paying for it, you are giving others the financial means to do the same to you!
Alright, what about the homeless? Many of them don't have families to pay so it seems like murder is free in that case. If you kill someone, there's still a claim against you and it becomes a sort of abandoned property. Anyone willing to enforce justice on you will be able to receive the payment that the family of the homeless person would have received. Also, if it's clear that you do this kind of thing for fun, there's a case to be made for locking you up so that you won't do it again. Self-defense is justified and imprisoning you would be a form of ongoing self-defense. You don't let up an attacker while he's still armed. The same goes for rich psychopaths.
Some might say "But, but, how can we put a price on human life?! I would never do that." Well, it would seem that millions of dollars is better than nothing. Anyways, there are already wrongful death suits. This would just be an extension of that. For the very dangerous, there will be prisons and many people would pay to keep them off the streets.
Is it perfect? No. No system is perfect. It's better than the current system, where we inflict evil on each other in the hopes of stopping other evil. Even though there will be problems, we can take comfort in knowing that we are living in a more just society.
That's fine so far but it sounds like the rich will get more justice than the poor under such a system. It's a good thing nothing like that happens under our current system! (sarcasm) However, let's say that Bill Gates kills you and then writes a check to your family. Murder is just something else that rich people can buy now, right? Not quite. There's nothing stopping your family from killing Bill Gates and then handing the check back to his family. By killing people and paying for it, you are giving others the financial means to do the same to you!
Alright, what about the homeless? Many of them don't have families to pay so it seems like murder is free in that case. If you kill someone, there's still a claim against you and it becomes a sort of abandoned property. Anyone willing to enforce justice on you will be able to receive the payment that the family of the homeless person would have received. Also, if it's clear that you do this kind of thing for fun, there's a case to be made for locking you up so that you won't do it again. Self-defense is justified and imprisoning you would be a form of ongoing self-defense. You don't let up an attacker while he's still armed. The same goes for rich psychopaths.
Some might say "But, but, how can we put a price on human life?! I would never do that." Well, it would seem that millions of dollars is better than nothing. Anyways, there are already wrongful death suits. This would just be an extension of that. For the very dangerous, there will be prisons and many people would pay to keep them off the streets.
Is it perfect? No. No system is perfect. It's better than the current system, where we inflict evil on each other in the hopes of stopping other evil. Even though there will be problems, we can take comfort in knowing that we are living in a more just society.
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