Response to the second question
It is true that law is created just but it cannot build just and good people. Just laws can only punish those who behave inappropriately. Its dignity can warn people who was not born to evil. To those who was born to evil, even death sentence cannot frighten them, like the serial killer Anton Chigurh in the movie No Country for Old Men. We all know what has happened in Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, James Eagan Holmes shot 12 people dead cold-heartedly. When he was in the court, he was sitting there smiling. It seems he was mocking the people he killed. So it is difficult for the nation to use laws to help make its citizens good and just. To prevent gentleman not to prevent the villain. This is an old saying from China. That is to say there is no absolute relationship “just laws” and “just citizens”.
I agree with your point that "just laws" will not make the "citizens good and just." I understand your idea that just laws will work when people behave inappropriately, However, leagal validity is invisible in the most of time.
ReplyDeleteI think your general response is very philosophical; however, I disagree with one of your ideas which says that its dignity can warn people who was not born to evil. To those who was born to evil, even death sentence cannot frighten them. From my perspective, no one is born to be bad, and even though people are born evil, law is able to restrict their behaviors. There are lots of cases in which evil people ameliorate their behavior due to restriction by law. For example, numbers of prisoners become mannered citizens after law educated them.
ReplyDeleteI think your example is very accurate and persuasive. Some people are not afraid of the punishment of law. However, I think that to let the citizens know what is right and wrong is also kind of making people good and just. Laws is a kind of education as well.
ReplyDeleteShanshan, I agree with you, but I also agree with Shengchao's viewpoint that the law can exist as a type of ethical and moral education. The law gives us a guiding point as to what behaviors are acceptable or unacceptable in our society, and different laws are acceptable in different cultures. Even though laws may not necessarily create just citizens, I think that they are indeed formative in their discouragement of unjust behavior, as many people fear breaking the law because of the repercussions. On the other hand, others argue that people who will disobey the law will disobey it regardless of the repercussions, and that laws are not an effective deterrent to unjust and bad behavior. They argue that the only thing the law encourages is for citizens to work at not being caught when they disobey the law, rather than not disobeying the law in the first place. I can see both viewpoints, so it is difficult to decide for sure.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! You said much very succinctly and gave me a lot to think about.