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<blockquote data-quote="Dr. Harry" data-source="post: 1561671" data-attributes="member: 5468">While I will grant that different criminal acts have different consequences, and that the penalties for those crimes should, in themselves, differ, they are both still crimes and can both still be wrong.&nbsp; To shoplift a copy of a book is a crime with a given range of pentalties regardless of whether the store burned down that night, or whether the thief intended to return it after browsing, as the action is what makes the crime, not necessarily the intention.&nbsp; If there is confusion on this point, it migt be due to me writing as this will also be read by those who have posted along the lines &quot;It is acceptable behavior if it is not the worst thing going on&quot; or &quot;File-sharing is acceptable behavior if I don't like the company I'm stealing from&quot;.&nbsp; I am not saying that you have advanced these arguments, just that my responses have been written to be read by more than just the person to whom I am directly responding.&nbsp; In its basic sense, and this may appear to be splitting hares, it is different to say that {(1)+(2) is worse than (1)} than it is to say that {(1) is less wrong than (1) + (2)}.&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Right&quot; and &quot;Wrong&quot; are basic descriptors I use like &quot;positive&quot; and &quot;negative - perhaps &quot;Acceptable&quot; (nonnegative) and &quot;Wrong&quot; would be better); there can still be a difference in degree.(Hmm ... you can see that I'm more of a DM than a player.)&nbsp; There is no difference in that they are both crimes and can both be wrong; they acts are similar in that they are both forms of theft.&nbsp; Piracy is a form of theft, though stealing a pdf of &quot;Waterdeep and the North&quot; is different than stealing a car.&nbsp; The situation changes &quot;not at all&quot; in the sense that a form of theft has been committed, though the degree can differ.&nbsp; I feel justified in calling both theft in the sense of the legal definition of theft quoted by Dannyalcatraz a bit back.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dr. Harry, post: 1561671, member: 5468"] While I will grant that different criminal acts have different consequences, and that the penalties for those crimes should, in themselves, differ, they are both still crimes and can both still be wrong. To shoplift a copy of a book is a crime with a given range of pentalties regardless of whether the store burned down that night, or whether the thief intended to return it after browsing, as the action is what makes the crime, not necessarily the intention. If there is confusion on this point, it migt be due to me writing as this will also be read by those who have posted along the lines "It is acceptable behavior if it is not the worst thing going on" or "File-sharing is acceptable behavior if I don't like the company I'm stealing from". I am not saying that you have advanced these arguments, just that my responses have been written to be read by more than just the person to whom I am directly responding. In its basic sense, and this may appear to be splitting hares, it is different to say that {(1)+(2) is worse than (1)} than it is to say that {(1) is less wrong than (1) + (2)}. "Right" and "Wrong" are basic descriptors I use like "positive" and "negative - perhaps "Acceptable" (nonnegative) and "Wrong" would be better); there can still be a difference in degree.(Hmm ... you can see that I'm more of a DM than a player.) There is no difference in that they are both crimes and can both be wrong; they acts are similar in that they are both forms of theft. Piracy is a form of theft, though stealing a pdf of "Waterdeep and the North" is different than stealing a car. The situation changes "not at all" in the sense that a form of theft has been committed, though the degree can differ. I feel justified in calling both theft in the sense of the legal definition of theft quoted by Dannyalcatraz a bit back. [/QUOTE]

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