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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 130

托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资

If this be the just view of the subject, and both theory and experience unite to prove that it is, almost all Mr Godwin's reasonings on the subject of coercion in his seventh chapter, will appear to be founded on error. He spends some time in placing in a ridiculous point of view the attempt to convince a man's understanding and to clear up a doubtful proposition in his mind, by blows. Undoubtedly it is both ridiculous and barbarous, and so is cock-fighting, but one has little more to do with the real object of human punishments than the other. One frequent (indeed much too frequent) mode of punishment is death. Mr Godwin will hardly think this intended for conviction, at least it does not appear how the individual or the society could reap much future benefit from an understanding enlightened in this manner.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 130 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

如果前面的观点成立,戈德温第七章里关于“强制”的推理就大多站不住脚。戈德温花不少篇幅嘲笑用拳头去说服人、澄清疑问,马尔萨斯说这确实荒谬野蛮,但和斗鸡一样,跟人类惩罚的真正目的没多大关系。常见惩罚是死刑,戈德温总不会认为死刑是为了“说服”吧——人死了,个人或社会还怎么从被这样“开窍”的理解中获益?核心是:惩罚的目的不是说服,而是约束和警示;可执行的是,讨论惩罚时先分清它要解决什么问题,别把“讲道理”和“惩罚”混为一谈。

上下文

马尔萨斯在《人口论》中反驳戈德温对惩罚与说服的论述,强调惩罚的独立功能。

今日一问

我在处理错误时,是否把“讲道理说服”和“施加后果约束”混成了同一件事?

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