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MoreOn comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 6 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: Unnamed 27 November 2010 08:25AM

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Comment author: MoreOn 13 December 2010 01:09:03AM *  4 points [-]

What's the purpose of imprisonment in the first place?

  1. To guard the society from criminals.
  2. To punish the criminals (revenge on the behalf of the relatives/victims).
  3. To redeem the criminals (so that they don't commit another crime).

The way Harry's been acting, seems like he'd strongly prioritize #3 over the other two. And considering that he didn't hold too much of a grudge against Draco for gom jabar'ing him, and believed that Bellatrix can be turned back into an okay human being, it seems like he would want to devise some sort of a method to redeem criminals.

And thanks, TobyBartels, for noticing my circular vocabulary issue.

Comment author: TobyBartels 13 December 2010 03:54:27AM *  2 points [-]

[Obsolete material has been moved to the bottom.]

It's worth breaking (1) up into two parts:

  • To keep those specific criminals from harming society.
  • To deter other criminals.

None of this affects your main point much: that in any case #3 is very important to Harry. (So I vote you up regardless.)

[Obsolete material follows.]

You ask what's the purpose of punishment, and one of your answers is punishment. I have two hypotheses towards what you actually meant:

What's the purpose of imprisonment? 2. Punishment.

and

What's the purpose of punishment? 2. Revenge.

Did you mean one of these, and if so then which?

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 13 December 2010 09:42:39AM 4 points [-]

I'm pretty sure that one of the common purposes of punishment is to make the people who are imposing it feel better. This may or may not be a glitch by some utilitarian standards.

Comment author: TobyBartels 13 December 2010 02:42:13PM 1 point [-]

This is what I meant by ‘revenge’, although wedifrid (in your comment's sibling) seems to have interpreted that differently.

Comment author: wedrifid 13 December 2010 04:03:02AM *  2 points [-]

It's also worth breaking (1) up into two parts:

Further, it is worth breaking up (2. Revenge) into two parts:

  • To deter other criminals.
  • So that you are the kind of person that other criminals, given mind reading instincts far more advanced than your ability to adapt your emotional responses, would not have f@#ed with in the first place.
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