What Should Happen to Criminals with Transplanted Organs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evil
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the ethical and philosophical implications of criminal responsibility in the context of organ transplants, particularly brain transplants. Participants explore how changes to the body or brain might affect one's identity and culpability, questioning the nature of self and guilt.

Discussion Character

  • Philosophical exploration
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the mind is closely tied to the brain, suggesting that guilt and identity are fundamentally linked to brain function.
  • Others argue that a brain transplant could fundamentally change a person's identity, potentially absolving them of past crimes.
  • There is a discussion about the implications of altering the brain with foreign substances and whether such changes affect personal identity.
  • Some participants express concern about the fairness of executing a person who has been drugged and unable to plead insanity, raising questions about justice and responsibility.
  • One participant mentions the complexity of the brain as a biochemical entity, questioning if it can still be considered the "original" brain after alterations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the relationship between the brain and the mind is complex and significant, but there is no consensus on how organ transplants affect criminal responsibility or identity. Multiple competing views remain regarding the implications of these changes.

Contextual Notes

Limitations in the discussion include unresolved definitions of identity and self, as well as the implications of brain alterations on personal responsibility. The philosophical nature of the topic leaves many questions open-ended.

Evil
Messages
94
Reaction score
0
just wondering...(by the way i didn't know where to put this so i put it here)...
lets say we have a criminal in jail.he has a heart problem so he got a heart transplant.he is still he so he stays in jail.
lets say another prisoner has a brain problem.lets say we have the technology and rights to transplant a new brain in him.so he has the brain of a good man but the body of a criminal.should he stay in jail?
lets say we have another criminal.he changes his fingerprints by doing a transplant which we assume is technologically possible.he has the finger prints of a good man, the dna of a crimial and the body of a criminal. should he stay in jail?
i been thinking for a while and would like to hear your views..
 
Biology news on Phys.org
This is philosophy more than Science, and relates to the conception of self.

As a rule though, the mind seems to reside in one way or another in the brain, and so the seat of the 'self' would reside in the brain. Actions come from the brain, so guilt would be a result of the brain.
So wherever the brain is, is where that person is. If someone has a brain problem, then 'They' have an irreversible problem. (unless you can just change that aspect of their brain where the problem is located, without actually cahnging anything else.

But in the case of the brain transplant, i would think of that rather as a body trasnplant. If you remove the brain of the criminal, then the body is not the body of a criminal anymore.

Fingerprints are meaningless in the determination of anything (it is just a way of identifying people) (Ie, identifies bodies, which at the moment, are unequivacobly attached to the brains within them...)

And the heart is meaningless too. Just a part of the body, which doesn't mean much in the determination of 'self'.
 
Originally posted by Another God
This is philosophy more than Science, and relates to the conception of self.

As a rule though, the mind seems to reside in one way or another in the brain, and so the seat of the 'self' would reside in the brain. Actions come from the brain, so guilt would be a result of the brain.
So wherever the brain is, is where that person is. If someone has a brain problem, then 'They' have an irreversible problem. (unless you can just change that aspect of their brain where the problem is located, without actually cahnging anything else.

But in the case of the brain transplant, i would think of that rather as a body trasnplant. If you remove the brain of the criminal, then the body is not the body of a criminal anymore.

Fingerprints are meaningless in the determination of anything (it is just a way of identifying people) (Ie, identifies bodies, which at the moment, are unequivacobly attached to the brains within them...)

And the heart is meaningless too. Just a part of the body, which doesn't mean much in the determination of 'self'.

Nice response, AG. I'd like to point out one thing though: you are referring to "ghost in the machine" reasoning - though all of what you said still holds true, without the "ghost in the machine" connotation.

You see, consciousness is inevitably linked to the brain, however, it is one thing to state this, and another thing to say that the "mind resides in the brain", because that implies a non-physical mind (again, Descartes' "ghost in the machine" reasoning).

But this is a Philosophical matter...
 
My words don't have to be taken in a Ghost in the Machine context. I just use them because it is the most vague reference to an unexplained phenomenon. We defiantely have a mind, and it is definitely related to the brain in some way, and while I believe the mind simply arises from brain processes, I don't really know. So, i will refer to the 'mind' as its own identity until I can sort out exactly how it should be referred to.
 
Originally posted by Another God
My words don't have to be taken in a Ghost in the Machine context. I just use them because it is the most vague reference to an unexplained phenomenon. We defiantely have a mind, and it is definitely related to the brain in some way, and while I believe the mind simply arises from brain processes, I don't really know. So, i will refer to the 'mind' as its own identity until I can sort out exactly how it should be referred to.

Fair enough.
 
ok...so the mind rest ina the brain. the brain itself is a complex chemical soup of biochemical reactions rite? so is a brain still considered as a original brain when u inject foreign substances into the brain?by altering the brain u change the mind so will the person still be considered as the same person?
 
Now that's a far tougher question. I say no, because I believe that crimes are due to the who pattern of the brain-mind, and responsibility cannot be divided from personality. However, parts of the justice system disagree. I heard they are executing a man after drugging him so he couldn't plead insanity.
 
but won't that be unfair to the criminal?
 
That's what I think too.

But I wasn't on the jury...
 
  • #10
i wish u was...
 

Similar threads

Medical How Do Surgeons Perform Lung Transplants on Patients with Reversed Organs?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
Medical Fecal Transplants to Cure Disease?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
5K
Organ Transplantation: What Happens to the DNA?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
Medical Brain transplant (Whole-body transplant ), feasibility, how and estimates when
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
17K
History Most Lucrative Criminal Act Of All Time
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
What fraction of genes do we share with relatives and with other species?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
6K
What is the Role of DNA Imprinting in Genetic Diseases?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
5K
Medical Modern technology on immortality
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
5K
COVID Reaction to COVID-19 Vaccine (or what to be prepared for)
  • · Replies 287 ·
10
Replies
287
Views
29K
Graduate Nice discussion between Rovelli and Smolin
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K