If reincarnation is real, and it's possible to trace where every soul went, do you think we should punish people for the crimes done in their past lives?
Think about like the worse of the worst. Dictators, war criminals, etc...
Especially those who never got punished in their past life when the crimes were conmitted.
Prison 2.0, even death won’t set you free. Thanks for a new horrible concept OP
I run a prison planet community here on lemmy so I know the concept and earth being a prison comes up in many ancient relgiions. The gnostic Christians believe earth was made to be a prison by malevolent entities. There's a belief in niche internet circles that earth is actually hell because hell is not described as a lake of fire or anything like that, it is simply a world without god and we are simply repeating our lives and deja vu is just us remembering previous times we've lived. If nothing else, it's a interesting thought experiment.
No. If reincarnation is real it means there is a system determining how and where people are reincarnated, likely with some purpose. Unless it's all random. The OP doesn't state which version of reincarnation, some version have a reward/punishment mechanism built-in.
Depends on if there's any continuity of self or not. If it's like it is now and there is no explicite continuity barring some major wonky situations (ala Last Airbender) then no. They get a fresh slate same as everyone else.
Like say. I find out in a prior life I was Pol Pot. Current me is going to feel REALLY shitty and 'OK maybe the shit I'm in with my life is to try balancing out the shit I did then.'
Now if there IS a continuity of self/resurgance of the old personality? Treat that person AS the old person.
No, unless we can remember what we did in past lives and those criminals are still doing the same thing in a current life
No. If the versions of reincarnation where your placement in your incarnation is the result of your past deeds (or trying to release the sense of guilt over those deeds), the incarnation itself is doing the work. Making things worse for the person might clear up their "karma" faster (using that term advisedly) so the vengeance aspect isn't satisfied by making things worse for them.
I don't think vengeance ("punishment") is justice anyway. I think it's important that we let state level actors know what terrible pieces of shit they are in this life. This gives them the opportunity to make some recompense in a way that might actually help the victims. Not that making George W. Bush spend the rest of his life feeding orphans in Iraq could possibly make up for what he's done (note: every U.S. president who has served during my lifetime has been a war criminal; I just don't feel like getting into an unrelated argument).
Ensuring justice (reputational and restorative) in this lifetime also discourages shitty behavior from others.
No. Reincarnation would be much more effective if everyone was allowed to remeber who they were in a previous life so they know how they treated people so hopefully reincarnation would show progress in these souls. Not the way it works though and makes you think that earth could actually be a prison like the gnostics say.
As someone who doesn't believe in free will I'd say no - I don't think they should be punished for their acts even in this life. Now, I'm not saying that actions shouldn't have consequences but punishing a person for something they did implies they could have done otherwise and that I disagree with.
The most common theories of reincarnation hold that it is punishment for misdeeds in past lives.
No wonder things are so bad, we're in a world filled with the worst souls that just keep coming back again and again.
Yeah Buddhism would be solved if there was just death. That’s also why Buddhism minus cosmology ie “secular” Buddhism makes zero sense
It doesn't make sense logically but still nice in a "be nice to other people, reduce suffering" sense.
I’m sorry.