Leo ZaibertCambridge University Press, 3/31/2018EAN 9781316645390, ISBN10: 1316645398Paperback, 276 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cmLanguage: EnglishThe age-old debate about what constitutes just punishment has become deadlocked. Retributivists continue to privilege desert over all else, and consequentialists continue to privilege punishment's expected positive consequences, such as deterrence or rehabilitation, over all else. In this important intervention into the debate, Leo Zaibert argues that despite some obvious differences, these traditional positions are structurally very similar, and that the deadlock between them stems from the fact they both oversimplify the problem of punishment. Proponents of these positions pay insufficient attention to the conflicts of values that punishment, even when justified, generates. Mobilizing recent developments in moral philosophy, Zaibert offers a properly pluralistic justification of punishment that is necessarily more complex than its traditional counterparts. An understanding of this complexity should promote a more cautious approach to inflicting punishment on individual wrongdoers and to developing punitive policies and institutions.1. Punishment as a ProblemI. Punishment, Theodicies, and MeaningII. The Axiological and the DeonticIII. Monism and PluralismIV. Conflicts, Remainders, and ForgivenessV. Overview2. Prolegomena to any Future AxiologyI. Ideal Utilitarianism, Desert, and the Richness of the Moral UniverseII. Organic Wholes and the Sounds of JusticeIII. Variance and its DiscontentsIV. Conclusion3. The Persistence of ConsequentialismI. Giving Desert its DueII. The Pieties of ImpunityIII. The Avoidance of Suffering and Sour GrapesIV. Conclusion4. The Gerrymandering GambitRetributivism in the Budget RoomI. Holistic Retributivism and Sharing StagesII. Emotions, Moral Luck, and ArroganceIII. Cutting Oneself Off from the Human ConditionIV. Punishment, Revenge, and the Pale Cast of ThoughtV. Talking to OneselfVI. Conclusion5. Communication, Forgiveness, and TopographyI. The Limits of CommunicationII. Games People PlayIII. A Variety of SkepticismsIV. Tales from Topographic OceansV. Conclusion6. The Allure of the LedgerBetter Than a Dog AnyhowI. Moral Luck and Moral MathematicsII. The Critique of the Morality SystemIII. Punishment, the Peculiar InstitutionIV. Pluralism, the Value of Forgiveness, and the Messiness of the WorldV. Conclusion7. The Right Kind of ComplexityI. Retributivism and Magical ThinkingII. Utilitarianism, Forgiveness, and Moral ReasonsIII. Micro-Managing LifeIV. From Unconditional Forgiveness to Unconditional PunishmentV. Conclusion8. The Jugglery of CircumstancesDirty Hands and Impossible StoriesI. Punishing InnocenceII. Moral TaintsFrom Aulis to TheresienstadtIII. Moral Brilliance and Moral ImaginationIV. Conclusion.
