Justice and Punishment: The Rationale of Coercion


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This book aims to answer the question: 'why, and by what right do some people punish others?' The author argues that the justification of punishment must be embedded in a substantive political and moral theory. Matravers questions why it is that recent theories of distributive justice have had so little to say about the punishment and retributive justice. His answer is that contemporary theories of justice cannot explain the relationship of justice and morality more broadlyconceived. As this is also the relationship that a theory of punishment needs to explain, it is in examining the problem of punishment that the limitations of contemporary theories of justice are most starkly exposed. Moreover, the limitations are such as to undermine these accounts of justice. The claim is
that it is through the discussion of punishment that the inadequacies of contemporary theories of justice is demonstrated and it is therefore through the discussion of punishment that those inadequacies can be rectified.
Matravers argues for a genuinely constructivist account of morality-constructivist in that it rejects any idea of objective, mind-independent moral values, and seeks instead to construct morality from non-moral human concerns and human wills, and genuinely constructivist in that, in contrast to the faux constructivisim of Rawls and cognate approaches, it does not take as a premise the equal moral worth of persons. He argues that a genuine constructivism will show the need for and justification
of punishment as intrinsic to morality itself.
Justice and Punishment: The Rationale of Coercion Review
Matravers analyses contemporary theories of justice in an illuminating manner. He uses this to extend the debate on punishment, as well as political theory, in an original and stimulating manner. While this book does not give enough weight to utilitarian theory (but who does nowadays) it still manages to tackle some of the weightiest issues that have been debated through the history of Western Philosophy. The examination is both convincing and respectful to the traditions that have gone before it. A must read for anyone concerned with the justifiability of the use of coercion by the state.Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "Justice and Punishment: The Rationale of Coercion" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from Justice and Punishment: The Rationale of Coercion ...

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