AshvinP wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 12:13 am
What worries me is the way similar philosophies manifest in society, especially in my profession. There is an increasing push to get rid of intent,
mens rea, as an element required for establishing a person's guilt or liability.
Well, that is a genuine philosophical, spiritual and sociological tangle of questions.
What comes now first to mind is something that Eckhart Tolle said when talking with Russel Brand. "Forgive them for they don't know what they are doing" can be taken as quite literal statement of being unaware when behaving highly mechanically. In our local legal tradition, analogue of 'Insanity defense' (which is English wiki link to the Finnish concept, but not same word-concept) is defined as absent or very low ability to understand cause and effect. Any case, in many or most justice philosophies that seems to be the common nominator that applies also to juveniles etc. as a requirement to establish consciouss intent.
Of course in more general philosophical and spiritual approach ability to understand cause and effect aka karma can go very far, also far beyond after spiritual awakening from ignorance (moksha, satori etc. in Eastern terminologies for "enlighetenment"); Wild Fox Koan is often characterized as post-awakening study of cause and effect, which seems to have no end, no final answer.
That's the general context, where some set of social norms and customs are supposed to make enough sense to be socially acceptable and benign, but of course the philosophical and practical problems are humongous.
As you mention the "woke" phenomenon of cancel culture etc. obsession for social exclusion of perceived ideological enemies as well as obsession of constantly seeking and creating new enemies to exclude, that's to me quite obviously a phenomenon of collective psychosis of ideological possession. If you have seen the document of Third Wave experiment, it's very similar or same phenomenon as what is called mass psychology of fascism. The name and details of the ideology in question are not what is most significant, it's the mass psychology phenomenon as such that is the real problem.
As the collective psychosis creates also very strong empathy barriers against it's perceived enemies and feeds from negative energies, it can also decrease awareness and understanding of cause and effect very severely. And possession by ideological super-ego is indeed a possession. When there was the NPC meme around, i thought it was not just a joke or ridicule from malice of their opponents, but in a sense also quite accurate diagnosis.
"Forgive them for they don't know what they are doing" applies very much to the woke phenomenon, IMHO. When I've tried to talk with them, of similarly possessed by other ideologies, there's often no ability to make a real connection, and a sense that there's nobody present there, just a mechanical thing. In our old language we would say that, an important part of the soul is lost, and to heal, needs to be retrieved. The part that is capable of autonomous and fully responsible intent.
Mods: not about politics, but about mass psychology of any and all ideological possessions.
. In practice that means, for example, that loyalty to the source text means doing all you can to make the translation better than the original. The same fundamental 'better' that JP talks about, I guess/translate. 
