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If the quality of punishment in any case is greater than it need be — if of
punishment for any act there be more than is needful — it is either because
there is too much of it where the case wants some or there is some of it where
the case wants none. What harm in a man's suffering, who does an act
I hate? What harm in the man's suffering whom I hate? When a
man suffers whom I hate, when confessedly he ought to suffer, what matter
whether it be a little or less or a little more?
Such is the reasoning of the multitude of men.
How should they punish but as they hate? What other standard than
their hatred should they assume? Tis the clearest standard, at least at any
given time when it is applied though at different times its decisions are
so apt to vary. What standard clearer? To know whether they hate an
act to know which of the two acts it is they hate most. What have they
but to consult their feelings?
What standard should they take? Even this or none. For to this
hour, except in here and there a... sentence dropped as it was by accident, no other has been laid down. Another, and here and there another has been indeed set up,
but these have not themselves been rectified by the grand standard of
utility — They clash. It is what Nobody has yet attempted to make
out to each its limits and to mould them into one harmonious body.
What marvel then that increase is any reasonable the only real
standard of right & wrong should administer to humanity —
What marvel that men given over to their prejudices
& passions should capacity mask these prejudices and
passions the of . And which antipathy on
the one side deal out unmetered punishment, it is natural
that sympathy should or the other side shield men under
his deserved blame —
Identifier: | JB/015/217/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
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015 |
deontology |
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217 |
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001 |
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linking material |
1 |
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recto |
f72 |
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sir john bowring |
[[watermarks::[britannia with shield motif]]] |
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5433 |
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