3 ms·

With that logic you can blame a sales man for selling the car to a customer who planed to drive it in the US. There is a undefined line between following order

With that logic you can blame a sales man for selling the car to a customer who planed to drive it in the US. There is a undefined line between following orders and following the law. The sales man does not know that it is illegal to sell the car. It is his own responsibility to not commit crimes. To not commit crimes one must know the definition of what a crime is. That definition can be found in the law book. In the Law book one can find that the car in question is illegal to sell. It would be very hard for him to find that information but it is still his responsibility.

lallysingh 10y ago
Selling something you didn't know was illegally polluting is a large distance away, legally, from designing the system specifically designed to break the law.
mulmen 10y ago
Do you really think VW salespeople should go to jail for this? Should salespeople do their own emissions testing? Should they all buy multiple versions of the same car and crash it to see if it's really safe? How does that system work? VW has a clear set of emissions rules to follow because they build the cars, why should the salespeople be on the hook? This isn't Tesla, VW salespeople don't even work for VW.
- MichaelBurge 10y ago
  "One man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens" He's proposing a Reductio Ad Absurdum argument, implying strict adherence to the "fall on the sword" principle causes prosecution of salespeople. Because there's an implication, if you accept his argument, then you either reject strict adherence to the principle(modus tollens) or accept prosecution of the salespeople(modus ponens). You interpreted his comment as accepting prosecution of the salespeople, but I believe he intended you to conclude rejection of strict adherence to the principle.
  - callesgg 10y ago
    Yes, thank you. & Thank you for that piece of information. I did not know that it was called that. Very interesting.

lallysingh 10y ago

Selling something you didn't know was illegally polluting is a large distance away, legally, from designing the system specifically designed to break the law.

mulmen 10y ago

Do you really think VW salespeople should go to jail for this? Should salespeople do their own emissions testing? Should they all buy multiple versions of the same car and crash it to see if it's really safe? How does that system work? VW has a clear set of emissions rules to follow because they build the cars, why should the salespeople be on the hook? This isn't Tesla, VW salespeople don't even work for VW.

MichaelBurge 10y ago
"One man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens" He's proposing a Reductio Ad Absurdum argument, implying strict adherence to the "fall on the sword" principle causes prosecution of salespeople. Because there's an implication, if you accept his argument, then you either reject strict adherence to the principle(modus tollens) or accept prosecution of the salespeople(modus ponens). You interpreted his comment as accepting prosecution of the salespeople, but I believe he intended you to conclude rejection of strict adherence to the principle.
- callesgg 10y ago
  Yes, thank you. & Thank you for that piece of information. I did not know that it was called that. Very interesting.