Honor and Revenge: A Theory of Punishment

2013
ISBN: 978-94-017-8475-7
Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buch, Englisch, Band 104, 204 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 3285 g

Reihe: Law and Philosophy Library

This book addresses the problem of justifying the institution of criminal punishment.   It examines the “paradox of retribution”: the fact that we cannot seem to reject the intuition that punishment is morally required, and yet we cannot (even after two thousand years of philosophical debate) find a morally legitimate basis for inflicting harm on wrongdoers.  The book comes at a time when a new “abolitionist” movement has arisen, a movement that argues that we should give up the search for justification and accept that punishment is morally unjustifiable and should be discontinued immediately.  This book, however, proposes a new approach to the retributive theory of punishment, arguing that it should be understood in its traditional formulation that has been long forgotten or dismissed: that punishment is essentially a defense of the honor of the victim.  Properly understood, this can give us the possibility of a legitimate moral justification for the institution of punishment.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kaufman, Whitley R. P.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter One: The Problem of Punishment.- Chapter Two: Punishment as Crime Prevention.- Chapter Three:  Can Retributive Punishment Be Justified?.- Chapter Four: The Mixed Theory of Punishment.- Chapter Five:  Retribution and Revenge.- Chapter Six: What Is The Purpose of Retribution?.- Chapter Seven: Making Sense of Honor.- Chapter Eight: Is Punishment Justified?.- Index.