tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post2378825677739243805..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Experience Turns People against Capital PunishmentJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-20179921870348019422014-04-15T09:03:13.309-04:002014-04-15T09:03:13.309-04:00Ah, my fault. You meant Augustinian in a philosop...Ah, my fault. You meant Augustinian in a philosophical sense. I'm afraid my mind went right to the idea that you meant AN Augustinian, so I kept looking for words like, "An Augustinian canon in 15th century Paris said . . ."<br /><br />What you say about Augustine looks right to me, but at this point, after years of teaching modern history to freshmen, my knowledge of Augustine is pretty faded.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-72116618092229212042014-04-15T06:51:43.193-04:002014-04-15T06:51:43.193-04:00The judge's notion that although he could not ...The judge's notion that although he could not really know what was happening in the trials he had to settle so quickly, it was still important to keep order. That's Augustine; we humans can't really do justice, but we have to keep order somehow. Of course Augustine thought we should try to be as just as possible, but we can never have certain knowledge and we can't let that stop us from doing our duties. Or anyway that's what Peter Brown says Augustine said; I confess that I have never been able to extract this sort of clear argument from Augustine's writings and so I mainly rely on Peter Brown to tell me what it means.<br /><br />And I suppose you must be right, the he was musing along those lines because somebody had said what he was doing was wrong. If we looked into it we would probably find that the Renaissance move toward more executions and generally more rigorous justice was always opposed by Christians of a different sort, inclined toward mercy.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-83686028343832836532014-04-12T10:09:52.841-04:002014-04-12T10:09:52.841-04:00Probably I'm having a senior moment, but upon ...Probably I'm having a senior moment, but upon rereading, I can't see the Augustinian reference. Can you point me to it? Help!<br /><br />I guess my broader point would be that societies are usually divided in their views, and if a person says X, it's because they're arguing with a contemporary and neighbor who says Y. I've grown wary of period typology.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-5390298166361654322014-04-12T07:44:04.816-04:002014-04-12T07:44:04.816-04:00Indeed Scalia is in this a Renaissance man; import...Indeed Scalia is in this a Renaissance man; important medieval courts could delay things forever. But the sort of courts that tried and hanged robbers could work very quickly, and it was in a a 15th century reflection on these courts, which I think I read in Geremek's Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris, that I encountered the Augustinian analysis of trials that I referred to.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-12324140224358261702014-04-11T14:50:17.598-04:002014-04-11T14:50:17.598-04:00To be fair to the Middle Ages, they actually quibb...To be fair to the Middle Ages, they actually quibbled over procedure a lot. The idea of repeated appeals and courts of review is medieval, as is the idea of no conviction without due process. One of the reasons the inquisition was so unpopular was because they skirted due process, including ignoring things like knowing who your accusers are. Even monks can be found denouncing the inquisition for this. Scalia's attitude truly seems to me more 16th or 17th century, the idea that only the majesty of the state protects us from our animal passions.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.com