Rethinking Punishment

Leo Zaibert is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Union College, New York.

• 1. Punishment as a Problem: I. Punishment, Theodicies, and Meaning; II. The Axiological and the Deontic; III. Monism and Pluralism; IV. Conflicts, Remainders, and Forgiveness; V. Overview; 2. Prolegomena to any Future Axiology: I. Ideal Utilitarianism, Desert, and the Richness of the Moral Universe; II. Organic Wholes and the Sounds of Justice; III. Variance and its Discontents; IV. Conclusion; 3. The Persistence of Consequentialism: I. Giving Desert its Due; II. The Pieties of Impunity; III. The Avoidance of Suffering and Sour Grapes; IV. Conclusion; 4. The Gerrymandering Gambit: Retributivism in the Budget Room: I. Holistic Retributivism and Sharing Stages; II. Emotions, Moral Luck, and Arrogance; III. Cutting Oneself Off from the Human Condition; IV. Punishment, Revenge, and the Pale Cast of Thought; V. Talking to Oneself; VI. Conclusion; 5. Communication, Forgiveness, and Topography: I. The Limits of Communication; II. Games People Play; III. A Variety of Skepticisms; IV. Tales from Topographic Oceans; V. Conclusion; 6. The Allure of the Ledger: Better Than a Dog Anyhow: I. Moral Luck and Moral Mathematics; II. The Critique of the Morality System; III. Punishment, the Peculiar Institution; IV. Pluralism, the Value of Forgiveness, and the Messiness of the World; V. Conclusion; 7. The Right Kind of Complexity: I. Retributivism and Magical Thinking; II. Utilitarianism, Forgiveness, and Moral Reasons; III. Micro-Managing Life; IV. From Unconditional Forgiveness to Unconditional Punishment; V. Conclusion; 8. The Jugglery of Circumstances: Dirty Hands and Impossible Stories: I. Punishing Innocence; II. Moral Taints: From Aulis to Theresienstadt; III. Moral Brilliance and Moral Imagination; IV. Conclusion.

'In his new book, Leo Zaibert has created a formidable challenge to philosophers who think that punishment can only be another word for certain kinds of crime or suffering prevention, and that the notion of deserved suffering does not make philosophical sense. The book is a must-read for all who think that the idea of justified retributive punishment excludes forgiveness and implies some kind of an eye-for-an-eye punishment. The book defends G. E. Moore's famous notion of organic whole, and is itself a very good example of one.' Ingvar Johansson, Professor Emeritus in Theoretical Philosophy at Umeå University, Sweden