Wednesday, October 15, 2008

An Eye for an Eye; A Tooth for a Tooth


We have discussed the Code of Hammurabi. We have looked at examples of some of the laws. We have decided that some of the laws are "weird" for lack of a better term. Some laws (many laws) carry a gruesome penalty for breaking it. Listed below are four of the laws from hammurabi's Code. Read them. Think about them. Blog about them.
1. If a man has put our the eye of another man, they shall put our his eye as well.
2. If a builder has built a house for a man, with the result that the house falls down and kills the owner, the builder shall be put to death.
3. If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.
4. If a man has accused another man and has brought a charger of murder against him but has not proved it, the accuser shall be put to death.
Gruesome? Fair? Unjust? What do you think.
Tell me what you think of these laws of the Code of Hammurabi. Are they fair? Are they Just? Are they too harsh? Explain your point of view. You may then respond to others by agreeing or disagreeing with them. Remember, a good debater provides SPECIFIC examples to back up his/her point.

Part 2: Laws are very important for today's world. Without laws, the world would be in chaos and it would be a very dangerous place. Let's ponder the laws that effect you the most such as curfew, certain bed time, certain amount of computer/video game time, no gum in school, only being able to drink water in school and not gatorade or juice, etc. Are their laws (rules) that you wish would be different? What would be some rules that you would change? Be careful, though, because you must think about the effect that a law/rule change would have..............

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. what i knowabout the mespotiamians is that they made aup and irrigation system to help there crops get better.
2. they also used pulles or slideing doors to get water to their crops.
3. they invented the whell wich they used to travel and bring foods to places.
4. before they used the wheel they used logs to roll the things they needed.
5. then they used a sledge to slide the stuff they had around.
6. next they used the loges and the sledge wichh was alot easier.
7. and last they used the wheel to bring the stuff.
8.they came up with a writing sstem that is now used today.
9. they had laws that they had to fallow just lke today.
10. so thas what i no about the mespotamians

Anonymous said...

I think that the laws are way to gruesome i mean look at them cutting off hands killig the ecuesed thats not right at all they should be aboll togo work offtheir bad deed for the gods or something just not killing or cutting off lims thats just rude so thats wat i think

Anonymous said...

I dont think some of those laws are fair...like the man accuing of something what if he was sick and the person forgot to get his medicine...then the sick man goes up to the "King" and forget's what he's was gonna say because he lost his memory...He shouldnt be put to death....Well so I think

Anonymous said...

I think is mean eye for an eye . I think hammurabis sould be put to die. theres more coming.

Anonymous said...

1. for the first law i think that is fair because if you knock out somones eye you'd be a little mad about it.
2.i think this law is unfair because if the guy builds a house i mean comon hes not gona know if the house will fall down.
3.i agree theres no reason to hit your father and not be punished for it.
4.i agree because if the guy tries to acuse somone of murder and they didnt do it.

Anonymous said...

1:I think there crazy unfair and just plain grusome.
2:I believe laws are very important part of life and without them the world would IMPLODE!!!!!!
But some of the ones that Mr.Klumper told us are pretty wierd and the one with the if a woman was driving alone in car one was pretty wierd and mean.

Anonymous said...

i would change the gum chewing rule and to have pop at school and also set the curfew to 1:30 instead of 11:00 i also would want to change the driving age limit to 13

Anonymous said...

i think the laws of Hammurabi are fair no one might agree on that, cut someones hand of you should get your hand cut of. But for death i think they should make them feel sorry becouse everyone dies but no a lot of people feel sorry for what they did

Anonymous said...

having laws is importent and changing 1 law can make a big difference like put pop in school people will be bouncing of the walls and a later curfew would make everyone sleepy and maby late for there job if u have one if your 17- years old and then get fired from your job and everything would be bad.

Anonymous said...

i think there completly unfair. i mean with the builder, what if there was a mega tornado or something and that made the house collapse. would the builder still be put to death? thats just creepy. hammur-wats-its should stick those laws in his ear.

Anonymous said...

Nelson i disagree with you cuznone of them are fair. if you hit your dad, yeah, you should be punished but the dad should just hit him back or something, but not CUT OFF HIS HAND!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think that those laws are pretty harsh. I mean, if you build a house for a man(this is just an example), then the house falls over(or falls down) and kills the man, you would be put to death! I think that is just plain MEAN!

Anonymous said...

i think that the code is fine cause if sombody cut your arm off you can cut theres just like the golden rule treat others the way you want to be treated instead of bullying every one cause you have one more arm than them!also if one of your friends built a crudy house and kills you and your spirit was alive im pretty sure you would be relly relly... MAD!! and if you had a son and he smaked you across the face you would probaly cut his hand off with his shoe just to make it painful.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Some of these laws are HARSH! If you accused someone of murder, and coulden't prove it, they would KILL you?! Some of those laws are just messed up! But the eye for an eye consept seems more fair than the eye for 20 years in prison.

Anonymous said...

Hi Makenzie!

I totally agree with you. It's just mean that they would do such things just because someone did something.

Anonymous said...

um if i wanted to change a rule it should be that we should be able to talk in study hall not loud but just talk a little bit and if were to loud we should just not be able to talk anymore. but at least let us talk a little bit! i mean study hall is supposed to be for studying but its also a kind of little free time and if we cant talk then its not really fun at all is it.

Anonymous said...

Dylan,
i disagree with you i mean i know the golden rule is important and all but thats just crealty...you want the pain of your hand or tounge cut off...yeah that's what i thought youd say "NO"..NOW DO YOU THINK ITS CRUEL TO DO THAT????

Anonymous said...

First I would like to point out that thoes laws are confusing and hard to understand! The law (rule) that I would like to change is the no gum in school.

Anonymous said...

I think some of their laws are fair but more than half of the could be changed to not so harsh laws like cutting off ears and hands.

Anonymous said...

I think some of their laws are fair but more than half of the could be changed to not so harsh laws like cutting off ears and hands.

Anonymous said...

They shouldnt put people to death for such dumb mistakes and dumb chocies the the people mad.

Anonymous said...

I would have to say that Mesopotamia is one of my fav topics to talk about in class.

Anonymous said...

WOW!!...I couldn't imaging living throught that stuff...ughhhh!!!

Anonymous said...

1 eye for an eye is a little out of line why can't somebody just be put in jail.

2 i disagree with that one because what if the person didn't even try to make the house fall what if there was a tornado.

3 that one is a little weird because how does anybody have proof I mean the only person who new would be the father.

4 I agree with that one but instead of put to death the person shuold just get whiped

Anonymous said...

I think the laws are really cool. They are just a tad bit too gory for school(recommendation)! What would happen if you broke one of these laws? how would you feel? I would feel like there really is no life after death.(That means :I'd feel like I would never lve again).