[MD] A Science of Morals

[craigerb at comcast.net]

[Steve] 
> I'm not sure that punishment has a place in a rational approach to 
> morality and justice. Why ought someone be punished? I suppose the 
> fear of punishment is a useful deterrent, but that doesn't apply in 
> this case. What other end could punishment serve in this case? 

That's just the point.  For you punishment is a deterrent; for someone else 
punishment is revenge; for someone else it is justice; for someone else 
fairness.  There is nothing in the description of the senario that entails 
one set of values over the other. 
Do our values depend on what is rational or does what is rational depend 
on our values? 
Craig