Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Thiel College-Death Penalty

Thiel College -Comment Project No. 6

French Philosopher Albert Camus spoke of executions as the macabre dance of the executioner and condemned calling it "administrative murder."  Do you agree or disagree with Camus' characterization? Explain your answer.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Student #8:

While Camus may consider capital punishment to be "administrative murder", I would not go as far to call it murder. The term murder insinuates a much darker occurrence. Murder is considered unjustifiable. Murder is criminal homicide. If Camus were to refer to capital punishment as "administrative homicide" then I would be more inclined to agree with this statement. Capital punishment is justifiable in the eyes of the law. It is comparable to a situation in which a police officer kills a criminal shooting at the officer. It is a justifiable situation and is not referred to as murder. Therefore, I can agree with the assumption that capital punishment should be considered a form of homicide. However, I can not agree with its classification as murder as Camus suggests.

Anonymous said...

student #3

I don't necessarily disagree with this viewpoint as I disagree with the use of the death penalty- however I feel that using the term murder does frame the issue in such a way that it would focus more on emotional appeal than logical considerations. Considering the history of the death penalty, and also the issue of racism within the criminal justice system there is reason to be critical of how reliable judgement in the past has been for individuals sentenced to death. I also feel that having the death sentence as a legal form of punishment can give credence to individuals who seek out personal justification rather than allowing the criminal justice system to do so. Although philosophers tend to make very strong opinions and not sway from them I believe in the case of Camus using such language is polarizing and degrades other opinions against the death penalty in the process. When discussing the philosophical implications of the death penalty one should be open to all interpretations if they ever wish for their viewpoint to be considered.

Anonymous said...

Student #10

I disagree with his characterization.
Processing the execution is just their job and the law is applying the death penalty not the executioners. They are not killing people for their own benefit or for their own pleasure. They are doing what they are supposed to do as its part of their job. Calling executioners "administrative murderers" is blaming wrong people for the whole system which they weren't even part of when deciding the system.

Anonymous said...

Student #13

Labeling capital punishment as "Administrative murder" is hard to agree or even disagree because it all depends if you're for or against the death penalty. For those people that are against the death penalty, they will simply agree that it should be called administrative murder due to being all about pro life and the fact that the death penalty does take a life away, they don't agree with. But for those that are for the death penalty, they would not like the labeling of "murder" due to the emotional appeal that it brings. But personally I believe that Camus labeling it as "administrative murder" has some truth behind it due to administrative meaning "the act of giving" and murder meaning "the killing of another human being", that is exactly what capital punishment is. Capital punishment is the act of giving someone lethal injection, in order to kill them.

Anonymous said...

Student #12

The philosopher used the wrong word for describing the act of putting someone to death. He should of not called it "administrative murder" but instead choose another word instead. The word murder makes the death penalty sound worse than it is. Murder sounds dark and has a negative tone to it. Most people think that when someone is murdered then it was in cold blood and very ruthless. Another word would of made it not sound as dark.

Anonymous said...

Student 1
Camus does mention it as administrative murder but in our society murder is something completely different. Murder is a crime or the act of killing someone against legal precautions. It's kind of like the notion if someone is wanted dead or alive, if the so called suspect is killed it really is not looked at as murder. Personally i see the death penalty as murder. Murder is the act of killing someone which is done when an execution is taking place. So in a way i do agree with Camus

student #6 said...

Student 6
Camus mentions that it is admin murder but in todays world murder is a completely different topic. Murder should be and always will be a crime against humanity and should be treated as such. In a way I agree with Camus because murder is a horrible horrible thing to have to deal with. Murder is a dark and a very not well thought out tone to it. Because when most people think of the words homicide, killing or murder then people start to believe of how bad and disgusting murder really is. So I agree with Camus.

Anonymous said...

Student No. 7

Camus's characterization of administrative murder and the executioner is in a way that I disagree with. Calling it murder is making capital punishment sound a lot harsher than what it is. Capital punishment is in a way murder but the way they die is not cruel. What the person did to receive death row was probably more serve than what they are receiving. People today are lucky that they do not receive worse of a punishment. I also think calling the executioner an "administrative murderer" is an unfair title. It is a person's job and someone has to do it. It is putting blame on them when it is the criminal justice system that makes the decision to end someone's life.

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