The 100 Season 5: Crime and Punishment (early access)
The moral case to make sure people follow the rules and how to punish people who don't.
Author’s Note: As you may already know but just in case, this will be available in a little while.
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Can the individual go too far?
At what point do the actions of the individual go beyond what a society can tolerate? And what should society do in order to deal with someone who does? These are the fundamental questions that exist when living in a society once things have gone beyond the basics of survival. It's far from easy to work out given that the importance of individual choices are paramount.
As we examined previously, we looked at why there are rules and how to go about living within a society of rules. We also considered how to deal with conflict between different groups living based on different sets of rules. More recently, we looked at the problem of building society around a totalizing concept of how society should be run, and finally how to build a society around the value of the individual. But there are those who won't go along with the rules of society. People who refuse to do what's expected of them, even when it's best for everyone. They only care about themselves and their own interests.
While this sounds reasonable, given the way we've explored them in the past, it doesn't necessarily end up that way. Especially because people's needs conflict in really fundamental ways. Not just on an individual level between people, but on a societal level. Primarily because in order to function in a group as a society, we have to consider that we all have a vested interest in society doing what we need it to. Providing the things we need so that none of us are forced to harm each other. This requires societal cohesion and a willingness to view other people's crimes as a crime against the group.
“All of me for all of us.”
As a society, there has to be some way of remedying this problem in a way that maintains the functionality of society without eliminating individual choice. In order to do this we have to have some kind of combination of what we've looked at previously. This type of problem creates conflict. Taking from others always does. So we'd have to employ a type of conflict resolution, but a slightly different one than previously discussed. We have to implement a form of punishment for those who break the rules. Even in a situation where the individual's value is paramount, there has to be some kind of order imposed.
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