Twenty six years in law enforcement taught me that there is the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Some people violate the law for ill gotten gain, or because they just don't care about societal order. Others violate the law through inattention or mistake. Intent matters, but it is sometimes hard to discern.
Although we rightly focus on acts, it is intriguing how much weight we also rightly place on intention. This is certainly true for breaking a law, but I think that it is most apparent when it comes to words—accidentally saying something rude doesn't come close to purposely saying something rude, even though the words are the same. Thank you for the comment and your thoughts, John.
I understand your point…if there is a foundation of discipline, there is basically little need for rules and laws…in the old days, parents educated their children on what’s wrong and right, nowadays children basically raise and educate themselves…so they grow into undisciplined adults that break laws and rules and don’t have the same common sense as you have…also, if governments would take care of people, there wouldn’t be a need for stealing, fraud, etc due to financial uncertainty…and there would be societies with better mental health…laws and rules seem to be the best way to control large populations….
My general sense is that you either have a norm or you have something that's codified as a law but that you can't have both. Living with just norms creates a problem, as does assuming that every facet of life can be codified. In a way, relying on the law pushes away what we assume are norms, as what's written becomes the standard rather than the norm. Thank you for the comment and for adding your thoughts.
Twenty six years in law enforcement taught me that there is the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Some people violate the law for ill gotten gain, or because they just don't care about societal order. Others violate the law through inattention or mistake. Intent matters, but it is sometimes hard to discern.
Although we rightly focus on acts, it is intriguing how much weight we also rightly place on intention. This is certainly true for breaking a law, but I think that it is most apparent when it comes to words—accidentally saying something rude doesn't come close to purposely saying something rude, even though the words are the same. Thank you for the comment and your thoughts, John.
I understand your point…if there is a foundation of discipline, there is basically little need for rules and laws…in the old days, parents educated their children on what’s wrong and right, nowadays children basically raise and educate themselves…so they grow into undisciplined adults that break laws and rules and don’t have the same common sense as you have…also, if governments would take care of people, there wouldn’t be a need for stealing, fraud, etc due to financial uncertainty…and there would be societies with better mental health…laws and rules seem to be the best way to control large populations….
My general sense is that you either have a norm or you have something that's codified as a law but that you can't have both. Living with just norms creates a problem, as does assuming that every facet of life can be codified. In a way, relying on the law pushes away what we assume are norms, as what's written becomes the standard rather than the norm. Thank you for the comment and for adding your thoughts.