Vlady's poll led me down this philosophical road. Are crimes crimes? More specifically, what makes a crime a crime.

Animals commit murder, rape, theft, etc on the regular. Why is it criminal when applied to people?

I have listed some factors that can attribute to the making of laws. Which one really defines a crime?

I picked other because all of the choices are fear based.

I went with Morality, but I feel like Practicality is also correct.

This is tough to figure out.

I think it used to be morality, but I do agree with Primate that a lot of it is based on fear and/or ignorance.

You could argue that morality is based on society and other things, it's subjective

My ranking would probably be:

1. Other
2. Morality
3. Society
4. Biology
5. Practicality
6. Legality
7. Arrogance

Morality ultimately requires a definition of morality, so if I choose that, I will say that crimes would be something wherein an individual's action harms another who does not consent to said harm. So suicide as a crime is silly, since you are only harming yourself.

Anti-sodomy laws? Dumb and not morals-based, because two consenting adults can do what they want. If they want to get spanked in their bedroom, I'm all for it. OTOH, if they capture a third person and spank them against their consent, there is the problem. We also define children as being unable to provide consent.

You start to get into fuzzy issues when you get to stuff like seatbelt laws, wherein the person who doesn't wear their seatbelt may cause additional harm to other people through additional medical costs- it becomes a "has the burden placed on society by the person greater than the cost to themselves in being made to wear a seatbelt"? Cost to society as a whole takes effect when morals no longer apply.

vladykins @ 29/6/2018 13:00

Anti-sodomy laws? Dumb and not morals-based, because two consenting adults can do what they want. If they want to get spanked in their bedroom, I'm all for it.

I've never agreed with a post more.

Mercator @ 29/6/2018 10:45

You could argue that morality is based on society and other things, it's subjective

They are all interconnected and subjective. I kind of hoped that would spur on the conversation.

Look at the dog. One of the most revered creatures in our society because they embody "moral" traits that humans value and aspire to. Loyalty, selflessness, dedication, kindness. They will also rape the shit out of the neighbor's dog every chance they get.

Primate @ 29/6/2018 12:55

Look at the dog. One of the most revered creatures in our society because they embody "moral" traits that humans value and aspire to. Loyalty, selflessness, dedication, kindness. They will also rape the shit out of the neighbor's dog every chance they get.

Did you say dog or Ahoda?

net/net

Vlady

Morality ultimately requires a definition of morality, so if I choose that, I will say that crimes would be something wherein an individual's action harms another who does not consent to said harm.

This is a good way to phrase it, and I think this basically explains why a crime is a crime.

The animal kingdom is a whole other ball game, I guess because we're more enlightened than they are of how the world works, whereas they're not really aware of most of these concepts.