Re:Bits of advice I wish I had known
by GavinMcG on Friday April 29, 2022 @08:08AM
(#31204115)
> "didn't ever do anything wrong on purpose"
The fact that there are two ways to read this comes up in the criminal law context, where there's a question as to someone's mental state.
You read "on purpose" to attach to "act" – as in, "none of my wrong acts were acts I purposely engaged in." (Such statements can often be read this way in the law – it's about whether they intended the act, not the consequences.)
But I think most people stating that sentence intend to communicate that the wrong (or harm) was not deliberate, in that they had innocent motives, or a non-culpable mental state. And that claim shouldn't be all that hard to believe.
The fact that there are two ways to read this comes up in the criminal law context, where there's a question as to someone's mental state.
You read "on purpose" to attach to "act" – as in, "none of my wrong acts were acts I purposely engaged in." (Such statements can often be read this way in the law – it's about whether they intended the act, not the consequences.)
But I think most people stating that sentence intend to communicate that the wrong (or harm) was not deliberate, in that they had innocent motives, or a non-culpable mental state. And that claim shouldn't be all that hard to believe.