> You'd said that submitting to punishment prevents self-deceit about one's motivations being for the greater good, rather than for personal gain. You said nothing about severity of the punishment.
Well, I said "Personally, I would add that acceptance of punishment reduces your ability to deceive yourself into thinking you're disobeying for the greater good, rather than just for your own personal gain or fame." I thought that was implicit in the "reducing", in the sense that the avoidance of self-deception was not full, and presumably depends on the size of the punishment. Sorry if this was unclear.
>Please be careful about suggesting I am avoiding the arguments of practitioners like MLK, et al. I am specifically dealing with the philosophical debate around civil disobedience
I meant no disrespect. I meant "avoid" in the same way a physicists proposing a new particle avoids constraints placed by existing experiments on the properties of that particle. He does this by specifying the properties of the proposed particle in a way that ensures it would not have already been seen.
> It is not inconceivable that a disobedient might act in such a manner...for the sake of personal gain and/or fame.
Not inconceivable, but it does make it much more unlikely.
> "His submission to punishment justifies his actions," that is a very dangerous maxim to put into play,...
Well, I said "Personally, I would add that acceptance of punishment reduces your ability to deceive yourself into thinking you're disobeying for the greater good, rather than just for your own personal gain or fame." I thought that was implicit in the "reducing", in the sense that the avoidance of self-deception was not full, and presumably depends on the size of the punishment. Sorry if this was unclear.
>Please be careful about suggesting I am avoiding the arguments of practitioners like MLK, et al. I am specifically dealing with the philosophical debate around civil disobedience
I meant no disrespect. I meant "avoid" in the same way a physicists proposing a new particle avoids constraints placed by existing experiments on the properties of that particle. He does this by specifying the properties of the proposed particle in a way that ensures it would not have already been seen.
> It is not inconceivable that a disobedient might act in such a manner...for the sake of personal gain and/or fame.
Not inconceivable, but it does make it much more unlikely.
> "His submission to punishment justifies his actions," that is a very dangerous maxim to put into play,...
I definitely never meant to suggest this.