Reflections on the Guillotine (1957)

(theanarchistlibrary.org)

33 points | by halperter 4 hours ago

8 comments

  • winter_blue 1 hour ago
    There's a summary of this essay on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflections_on_the_Guillotine

    This is a 1957 essay by Algerian-French philosopher Albert Camus.

  • quantummagic 1 hour ago
    > it is obviously no less repulsive than the crime,

    Hard disagree. There are people who deserve death, and it is a good thing when it happens. It's just really dangerous to give the state such a power.

    • aejm 40 minutes ago
      I wonder if you would feel different after witnessing an execution (by guillotine)? I believe Camus is arguing that you would, giving his father as example of someone who similarly changed his mind.
  • LNSY 2 hours ago
    Modern problems require modern solutions. Get yourselves a sawz-awl. https://amzn.to/4grxOUN , then you can operate in Natakomi Space: https://www.bldgblog.com/2010/01/nakatomi-space/
  • cindyllm 1 hour ago
    [dead]
  • iwantitez 2 hours ago
    [flagged]
  • iwantitez 1 hour ago
    [flagged]
  • catapart 1 hour ago
    [flagged]
    • JKCalhoun 17 minutes ago
      "Anyway, yeah, your dad had a weak stomach…"

      Yeah, no we can still want justice and not want to be horrified by the act of execution for the rest of our lives.

      Or, I don't know, perhaps we can crush parts of their body one at a time. Or maybe set fire to their limbs one at a time. I mean, why not?

      (And never mind that if The State could, even once, execute someone who is innocent, it renders capital punishment instantly null and void in my mind.)

      • romanhounds 9 minutes ago
        And what's your solution for this gross asymmetry of wealth? "Engineers" working 4 hours a week from resorts for enormous salaries? PE and VC run rampant, politicians bought and paid for, lobbying for corporate interests... I don't see why they should be allowed to keep accumulating more power and wealth..
    • senordevnyc 43 minutes ago
      This sounds like something I might have written at 15. Only fools who have never known the horrors of war or indiscriminate violence would wish for the world you’re fantasizing about.
      • catapart 30 minutes ago
        This sounds like something my illiterate classmates might have written at 15. Point to where you see a wish or a fantasy in what I wrote. Actions have consequences and those that refuse to learn from history are likely to cause it to repeat. If you're seeing a different world than I'm writing about, you're welcome to describe it. But ignorant assumptions about the shit I've seen aren't the slam dunk your smugness assures you they are.
        • senordevnyc 6 minutes ago
          lol, truly hilarious, you’re a software engineer cosplaying as a bloodthirsty class warrior on HN.

          But sure, you’ve seen some shit and you’ll make those evil rich people pay for all your horrible suffering.

          That’s enough keyboard warriors for one day for me, going to bed. Hope you find some peace.

    • iwantitez 49 minutes ago
      [flagged]
      • randallsquared 30 minutes ago
        > I saw a question once on Quora asking why the poor don’t rip the wealthy out of their houses and the top reply was “Nazi!” with hundreds of upvotes.

        This seems odd because it usually goes the other way: people complaining about the rich typically tar them as the "Nazis". For people against destroying the rich, the usual epithet for those who want to do so would be "commies"...