Consequentialism, Responsibility and Retribution: Comments on Victor Tadros’ Theory of Punishment
Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 48-61, 2012
18 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2012 Last revised: 31 Mar 2016
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
This paper considers some of the arguments in Victor Tadros’ book on the moral justification of criminal punishment. While the final end of the book is a theory of punishment, it discusses along the way also general topics in moral and political philosophy and considers the analogy between punishment and defensive force. Therefore, the book is of interest not only to people who are interested in the justification of punishment, but also to those who are interested in ethical theory more generally. In what follows, I first describe, very briefly, the main arguments in the book and then consider a few aspects of some of these arguments.
Keywords: Punishment, Justification, Consequentialism, Retribution, Responsibility, Self-Defense,
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