Moral Desert
University Press of America (Verlag)
978-0-7618-5069-4 (ISBN)
In Moral Desert, Howard Simmons notes that the idea that we deserve to be praised or rewarded for good behavior and blamed or punished when we act badly seems central to everyone's moral deliberation and practices. Simmons subjects this assumption to critical scrutiny. He argues that in a wide range of cases it is almost impossible to know the extent of people's moral responsibility, and indeed that it may be a complete delusion. He attacks the still-popular theory of retributive punishment, with special reference to the views of Peter French and J. Angelo Corlett. Simmons does not conclude that punishment is always unjustified, but insists that any justification should relate to its real world consequences. State punishment should be inflicted according to strict consequentialist precepts, and the author provides systematic principles for determining an appropriate sentence and for deciding when offenders should be excused. He also considers the implications of his views for distributive justice and personal morality.
Howard Simmons studied philosophy and modern languages at The Queen's College, Oxford, and obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy at McMaster University. He is currently an adviser to secondary school teachers of philosophy for the British Philosophical Association and an editor with the PhilPapers database.
Part 1 Preface Part 2 1. Quandaries of Desert Chapter 3 1.1 Gary Hart and the Selby Rail Disaster Chapter 4 1.2 Internalism versus externalism Chapter 5 1.3 Further development of internalism Chapter 6 1.4 Further problems with desert Chapter 7 1.5 Positive desert Part 8 2. The Implications of Determinism Chapter 9 2.1 Determinism, 'hard' and 'soft' Chapter 10 2.2 Frankfurst cases Chapter 11 2.3 Libertarianism Chapter 12 2.4 Determinism and morality Chapter 14 Notes Part 14 3. Retributivism Chapter 15 3.1 Introduction Chapter 16 3.2 Retributivism: a first look Chapter 17 3.3 Peter French and vengence theory Chapter 18 3.4 Corlett's account: exposition Chapter 19 3.5 Corlett's account: critique Chapter 20 3.6 Negative Retributivism and some thought experiments Chapter 22 Notes Part 22 4. A Utilitarian Approach to Punishment Chapter 23 4.1 Utilitarianism in general Chapter 24 4.2 The basic utilitarian arguments Chapter 25 4.3 Objections to utilitarian punishment and responses Chapter 26 4.4 A return to desert? Chapter 28 Notes Part 28 5. Utilitarian Punishment in Detail Chapter 29 5.1 Guiding principles Chapter 30 5.2 The S-score algorithm Chapter 31 5.3 From S-scores to actual sentences Chapter 32 5.4 Case studies for the application of the algorithm Chapter 33 5.5 Exculpation Chapter 34 5.6 State Punishment within the family Chapter 35 5.7 Punishment within the family Part 37 6. Effort and Distributive Justice Chapter 37 Notes Chapter 38 6.1 Introduction Chapter 39 6.2 Sher versus Rawls Chapter 40 6.3 Distributive justice Chapter 42 Notes Part 42 7. Morality and Blame Chapter 43 7.1 Hostility to wrongdoers Chapter 44 7.2 Sher on blame Part 46 8. Conclusion: Desert Skeptics in a vengeful world Chapter 46 Notes Chapter 47 Notes Part 48 Appendix Part 49 References Part 50 Index
| Verlagsort | Lanham, MD |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 155 x 234 mm |
| Gewicht | 252 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik |
| ISBN-10 | 0-7618-5069-4 / 0761850694 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-7618-5069-4 / 9780761850694 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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