So let’s start with a hypothetical scenario. (I know strawman, but we’re talking about meta levels of philosophy here and experiments like these usually serve very well to prove a point or contradiction in someone’s logic)
If there is a serial killer who can never be satisfied and can escape any sort of containment given enough time. Is it wrong to execute them?
I really like this response. This is how I approach it as well on a higher level.
However here we seemed to have glossed over “what is right and wrong” which is a very complex issue and might be biased by the observer.
Hobbes has touched on this subject and the whole construct of society as we know it in his book “The Leviathan”
What we might see as wrong in the case of the killer and their victims, on his end is just an expression of his free will. In his mind he might not be doing anything wrong, given different guidelines for moral or empathy. In fact he may not even consider his victims alive.
So we judge them based on our morals and views of good and evil. Are we correct or are they correct? Hobbes states that the morals of the majority are what we follow in a society. But it’s just something that we’ve constructed.
Edit: once again I’m using a case in where the situation is very obvious and clear cut. But think about when there is more nuance. A society views a certain race or species as a food source or livestock (think us and cows, or us and farmed fish) Are we correct or are we wrong to do what we do?