Crime and Punishment

Catalog description

Echoing Plato, Boethius claims in the Consolation of Philosophy that "since good and evil, and also punishment and reward, are directly opposite to one another, what we see added in the case of the good man's reward must necessarily be reflected in an opposite manner in the case of the evil man's punishment" (IV.3). Punishment, in other words, is necessary to the evil man. The aim of this course is to reflect on this point. Is the point true? If so, why is it true? It will study Plato's arguments in favor of punishment and Aristotle?s, Boethius's and Aquinas's. It will cover such additional topics as natural law, the difference between natural law and civil law.