6198 The Logic of Spanking

Freedomain with Stefan Molyneux

Stefan Molyneux

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4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stefan Molyneux explores the debate on corporal punishment, specifically spanking, within child-rearing practices. He examines the moral implications of using force against children compared to adults, arguing that while violence is morally unacceptable in adult interactions, society still permits spanking. Molyneux challenges the justification of corporal punishment by questioning the assumption that children are incapable of reason and drawing comparisons with mentally impaired individuals. He critiques the idea that spanking is a necessary preventive measure for worse behaviors, advocating instead for positive reinforcement models over negative consequences. This discussion highlights the detrimental effects of physical punishment on children's understanding of empathy and respect, ultimately calling for a reevaluation of disciplinary methods towards more compassionate approaches in parenting.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, good morning, everybody.
0:02.8	Hope you doing well, Stefan Molineu from Free Domain.
0:05.5	Freedomain.com slash donate to help out the show and shop.
0:08.6	dot freedomain.com for merchie merch.
0:11.7	Just in time for Christmas.
0:14.1	So, the spanking debate has re-errupted on X.
0:19.5	And for those of you who are newer to my work, I will tell you my thoughts
0:24.3	about it as a whole, and you can tell me what you think, and we can engage in a robust debate
0:32.9	about these obviously very important matters. The use of force is one of the most powerful
0:40.1	topics in all of human morality. So let's get into it. So if we look at the adult world,
0:50.6	adults cannot use force against each other except in self-defense, right? So the initiation,
0:57.9	so when I say violence and force and so one in this conversation, just for the sake of clarity
1:03.1	and efficiency, I will be referring to the initiation of the use of force. I'm obviously
1:08.0	perfectly fine with self-defense up to and including death itself,
1:13.3	killing someone in order to prevent rape and murder and grievous bodily harm and all.
1:19.1	I'm fine with the common law definitions of all of that sort of stuff. So just to be clear,
1:25.3	that is fine. Now, so human beings cannot use force against each other.
1:34.0	A boss cannot hit a subordinate, even if that subordinate makes a grievous error. There was a
1:42.4	trader who fat-fingered some big bank and traded a bunch of stuff he
1:47.5	shouldn't have. It actually brought the whole bank down, destroying a decades-long institution.
1:54.2	You cannot assault that person, right? You can get mad at them. You might sue them or whatever
1:59.4	it is, but you can't go and assault
	...

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