abe smith

Eh, so much the worse. Looks like Cain had a nicer sense of the meaning of the term "kill" than that. I am not a believer in the stuff put forth in Genesis, you know.

7thangel

Murder is killing without authority.

Putney Swope

Murder is when one human kills another.
Self Defense? You don't have to kill the other person to defend yourself. Take out his knees and he will not continue to come after you.

Execution, even when done with the authority of the government is murder. They can keep a person locked up and away from society without killing him.

Even in war, killing another person is murder. Killing by dropping bombs from a jet is mass murder.

Assassinating a despot is murder.

Sometimes killing is necessary, but it's still murder.

You can put a tophat, a coat and a tie on a monkey, but that don't make him Gene Kelly.

winstonjen

It takes precision and time to do that, neither of which may be available in a life-or-death situation.

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Execution, even when done with the authority of the government is murder. They can keep a person locked up and away from society without killing him.

Still, it's a waste of money when they're clearly guilty, and some prisoners have better living conditions than the homeless.

Quote:

Even in war, killing another person is murder.

Once, again, it's a life-or-death situation, and killing is the only absolute way of eliminating such a threat. It is natural to want to protect your own life.

Quote:

Killing by dropping bombs from a jet is mass murder.

Yes, but it's unavoidable. Civillian casualties have been happening since the first war.

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Assassinating a despot is murder.

Sometimes killing is necessary, but it's still murder.
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To you. To some, it can be justifiable homocide.

Killing does not always equal murder. To say that is to say that all sex is rape.

Putney Swope

Sorry, but the question I was answering is "How do you define 'Murder'?"
To me , Killing another person is "murder". While there may be justifiable reasons to kill another person, that doesn't make it "NOT Murder".

You can justify anything if you want to, that still doesn't make it "right".

"There is no reality. There is only perception." At least that's my perception.

malookiemaloo

Sorry to interject on a lively discussion.

In the commandment ''you shall not kill'' I once heard in a sermon the the Hebrew literally means ''do not kill someone near to you''.

Capital punishment and killing in war are not strictly speaking murder although they are killing.


Alistair

AnthonyAdams45

Are accidental killings murder? Are killings by animals murder? Killings by disasters?

I don't think we want to take away your right to use words the way want to, but we do want to be sure of how you actually use the word and to let you know, that's not how we use it, so be careful talking to us.

winstonjen

So according to your perception, should we prosecute people who kill in self-defense? After all, they are commiting murder, according to you. Sorry, but I don't believe that this issue is black and white.

Putney Swope

Sorry,
I'm new to this forum and didn't understand that the question was strickly about the legal definitions of murder.
Yes.

No. Animals kill for food (although there are documented cases of animals killing outside of the quest for food). I thought the discussion was about homo sapiens killing other homo sapiens., since by forum rules, animals are NOT allowed to post here. Maybe I read too much into the question.
That depends. If a volcano errupts, no. If a pilot loses control of his plane and kills the inhabitants of a house, then Yes.

As I stated before, the question (and it was stated rather simply) was,
How do you Define "Murder"?

All I was trying to do is answer that question. I'm not trying to twist words around for my own nefarious purpose. I just answered the question.
I'm not a lawyer {/everyone slaps their forehead in surprise}, I'm an engineer. I try to avoid "scope creep" in my projects at work. I didn't realize that "scope creep" is a way of life in these forums. Maybe I should have lurked around more before joining the discussion.

malookiemaloo

I agree.

I do not believe that murder has anything to do with the act committed. It is to do with the mind. If it contains malice, it's murder. If not, then it's not murder.


Alistair