Punishment:
A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader
Edited by A. John Simmons, Marshall Cohen, Joshua Cohen, & Charles R. Beitz

Winner of the Charles Rufus Morey Award of the College Art Association
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Books of 1993

Paper | 1994 | $30.95 / £18.95
360 pp. | 5 x 8

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

The problem of justifying legal punishment has been at the heart of legal and social philosophy from the very earliest recorded philosophical texts. However, despite several hundred years of debate, philosophers have not reached agreement about how legal punishment can be morally justified. That is the central issue addressed by the contributors to this volume. All of the essays collected here have been published in the highly respected journal Philosophy & Public Affairs. Taken together, they offer not only significant proposals for improving established theories of punishment and compelling arguments against long-held positions, but also ori-ginal and important answers to the question, "How is punishment to be justified?"

Part I of this collection, "Justifications of Punishment," examines how any practice of punishment can be morally justified. Contributors include Jeffrie G. Murphy, Alan H. Goldman, Warren Quinn, C. S. Nino, and Jean Hampton. The papers in Part II, "Problems of Punishment," address more specific issues arising in established theories. The authors are Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael Davis, and A. John Simmons. In the final section, "Capital Punishment," contributors discuss the justifiability of capital punishment, one of the most debated philosophical topics of this century. Essayists include David A. Conway, Jeffrey H. Reiman, Stephen Nathanson, and Ernest van den Haag.

Review:

""Ringside theorists can get more in 'Punishment', a set of strictly philosophical essays . . . 'Punishment' ends with a lively exchange about sentencing bias in capital punishment."--The Economist

Table of Contents

Other Princeton books by A. John Simmons:

• The Lockean Theory of Rights.
• Moral Principles and Political Obligations.

Other Princeton books by Marshall Cohen:

• Equality and Preferential Treatment: A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader.
• Rights and Wrongs of Abortion: A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader.
• War and Moral Responsibility: A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader.

Other Princeton books by Joshua Cohen:

• Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?
• Islam and the Challenge of Democracy: A Boston Review Book.
• A Way Out: America's Ghettos and the Legacy of Racism.

Other Princeton books by Charles R. Beitz:

• International Ethics: A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader.
• Political Equality: An Essay in Democratic Theory.
• Political Theory and International Relations.

Series:

• Philosophy and Public Affairs Readers
  Charles R. Beitz, Editor

Subject Areas:

• Philosophy
• Political Science and International Relations

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $30.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-02955-9

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £18.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-02955-9

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File created: 7/1/2008

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