Philosophy of Punishment

Catalog description

This course focuses on different theories and practices of punishment from an ethical, legal, historical, and philosophical perspective. Punishment is a crucial part of any theory of justice: there is no point in having laws if there is no punishment for breaking them. In addition it is widely acknowledged that punishment itself must be fair and just. This course examines different accounts of the nature, purpose, and limits of punishment as expressed in the writings of philosophers such as Beccaria, Bentham, Kant, Hegel, H.L.A. Hart , Jean Hampton, and John Rawls.