 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Is there intrinsic value in inflicting pain upon those whose acts have intrinsic disvalue? Believers in hell must answer in the affirmative, and so must all those who believe that the purpose of the criminal law should not be merely deterrent and reformatory. Some stern moralists have maintained that pleasure has no intrinsic value, but I do not think they were quite sincere in this, as they maintained at the same time that the virtuous will be happy in heaven. The question of vindictive punishment is more serious, because, as in the case of disagreement about moral rules, there is no way in which the matter can be argued: if you think it good and I think it bad, neither of us can advance any reasons whatever in support of our belief.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, (1954), chapter98：Is there ethical knowledge ?
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'those whose acts have intrinsic disvalue intrinsic disvalue' is not 'those who commit acts that have no intrinsic value', but 'those who commit acts that have intrinsic anti-value (note: harmful acts)'. The former would include 'those who commit acts that are neither poisonous nor medicinal'.
In countries with a large number of religious believers, whether Christian or Muslim, there are many people who justify 'retributive punishment'. By contrast, in countries with a large number of non-religious people, such as Japan, there are many people who take a negative view of 'retributive punishment'.
In democracies such as the USA, those who commit crimes are carefully judged by courts if they are citizens of their own country, but 'retaliatory punishment' is carried out against people from hostile countries or terrorists, and even if they die as collateral damage, it is ignored as 'inevitable'.