Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

A post or two in this thread brought up a point that I'm sure has been well-covered in philosophy, but I never studied it, so school me, please:

Person A believes he shouldn't be bound by safety laws that affect the 'mass' of people because his skills are greater than theirs. He is granted exemption from this law because of his 'superior skills'.

Person A then is found to be at fault in a mishap that killed Person B; this mishap is exactly the situation covered in the law from which Person A was exempt because of his 'superior skills'.

Should the punishment for Person A be greater, due to his claim that he was better than everybody else, than it would have been for say, Person C, who broke the law but didn't claim he should have been exempt from it?

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

So what was person C's reason for breaking the law?

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

Uh, in the previous thread the issue was cell phone usage while driving. So, let's say this has been outlawed; but Person C heard on the radio the market had plunged and decided to call his broker to place an emergency sell order, then got distracted and crashed, killing somebody. Same scenario for Person A, but he had an exemption because he was 'a better driver' than anybody else.


If that helps. I don't believe what the specific case was matters.

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

By any rational standard, Person C should be punished more harshly. Person A is guilty of bad judgment and arrogance, but he acted with the belief that society would not be harmed by his actions. Person C wantonly ignored the safety of others in pursuit of personal gain. Seems pretty clear to me.

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

They both broke the same law to the same result. They both get the same penalty as prescribed by the law. Person A gets extra bad karma points, dirty looks, and an extra raping when he gets to jail for being an ass.

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

'Same scenario for Person A'

He also wantonly flouted others' safety for his own personal gain, after he had claimed he was better than everybody else. That's why A should be punished more harshly IMO.

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

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'Same scenario for Person A'

He also wantonly flouted others' safety for his own personal gain, after he had claimed he was better than everybody else. That's why A should be punished more harshly IMO.

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No. Person A believed his actions would do no harm. Person C did an action which he acknowledged that he Should not do because it was likely to harm others.

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

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Person A gets extra bad karma points, dirty looks, and an extra raping when he gets to jail for being an ass.

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That will be satisfactory. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

Person A should not be granted an exemption to begin with.

Btw, regarding the point about heated discussion on a cell phone while driving; should we also ban heated discussions between a driver and a passenger in the car?

Re: Setting Oneself Above the Rest
 

I still don't understand why you think arrogance and poor judgment are worse crimes than unjustified selfishness. By flagrantly violating the law when he KNOWS that he is putting others in danger, Person C is committing a much worse crime than Person A, who may be a big tool, but he nonetheless is trying to accomodate society.