:think: So much for *absolute morality*. There are no *certain cases* which would make beating a wife/child/husband okay.
In most cases, an spouse will get angry over something their partner says or does and hit her/him.
What you are effectively committing to saying, Rusha, is that there are absolutely no conceivable cases in which a wife, child or husband could be deserving of a beating.
For the sake of this discussion, I'll ignore the question of whether or not a child conceivably could deserve one; I'll focus on the husband and wife, who are mature rational agents who are responsible for their conduct.
Is there nothing that a married woman can do, regardless of how illegal or how immoral or how damaging either to herself, her family or the political society and the State, which could possibly merit beating as a due penalty?
If you say "no," then I'll ask: "What about any woman?"
If you say "no," then I'll ask: "What about any man?"
If at any point you say "yes," then I'll ask you what is so special about the preceding class(es) of people.
If you insist on saying "no," then I'll answer that corporal punishment has a longstanding history both in the East and in the West. It historically has been granted that at least some kinds of acts can merit physical torment (e.g., whipping, burning, etc.) as their due punishment.
You, of course, will want to insist that a husband should never beat his wife, nor the other way around.
Fine. I'll bracket the question.
What about the State? Does the State reserve the right to exact physical punishments on anyone? If you say "no," then I'll bring against you the historical practice of various nations. If you say "yes," and if indeed, you recognize, as I do, the State's right of violence (
ius violentiae), its right of exacting vengeance (
ius talionis), then I'll ask why the State cannot delegate its authority to punish to someone else. If you answer that the State indeed can do this, then I'll ask why the State cannot delegate to a man the authority to punish his wife for certain categories of action (e.g., adultery or culpably bringing disaster to the household).
