Simple Subjectivism and Serial Killers

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Take any vicious action: Willful murder, for instance. Examine it in all lights, and see if you can find that matter of fact, or real existence, which you call vice. In which-ever way you take it, you find only certain passions, motives, violations and thoughts. There is no other matter of fact in that case. The vice entirely escapes you, as long as you consider the object. You can never find it, till you turn your reflection into your own breast, and find a sentiment of disapprobation, which arises in you, toward this action. Here is a matter of fact; but it is the object of feeling, not reason. (Hume, 2014)
Craig Price, America’s youngest serial killer was only 13 years old when he brutally murdered Rebecca Spencer, stabbing her 58 times. Flying under the radar, the juvenile remained on a hiatus as the case went unsolved. Two years later Price struck again, stabbing Joan Heaton and her two daughters to death. When confessing to the murders Price showed no remorse for what he had done. When asked if he had done anything wrong, Price replied that he hadn’t, since “morality is a private choice.” So were Prices’ moral belief proper grounds for dismissal of his charges? Was his statement a substantial argument? In the following text I will attempt to explain a simple subjectivist point of view on Prices’ statement, as well as express my personal stand in this subject matter.
Subjectivism in simplest terms is the belief that moral judgments are simply individual expressions of feeling. Subjectivists believe that there are no objective moral truths; they believe that moral truths are only statements that represent how the proponent feels on a particular issue. Therefore, a subjectivist would focus more on Price’s intentions of com...

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... the intention was enough to hold Price to the level of punishment he received.
Within a month of Price’s arrest, a law was passed that juveniles were allowed to be tried as adults in serious crimes. So again, a subjectivist could stand for or against Craig Price and build an argument for or against the young serial killer but in the end judgment and punishment are decided by a group of the defendant’s peers and an authority chosen by that particular society. Therefore, proving that although morality is a private choice made by an individual, there are moral truths that the greater believe are to be followed. I believe that moral truths are necessary in a world where everyone must work together. It is irrelevant to me what instills these truths within individuals, the higher power is the individuals’ choice, and I simply enjoy the comfort of knowing they are there.

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