The Justifications of Punishment
Analytic philosophy tends to separate the two main philosophical questions concerning punishment – those of meaning and justification. They tend to be separated and treated almost independently of one another. In this section we will follow this assumption. There are several traditional but opposed justifications of punishment, but, it will be argued*, none fit easily with the punishment of children (Marshall 1984). Here we will look at these traditional justifications, irrespective of whether or not they apply to children.
The retributive theory can be traced at least to the Old Testament adage of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” As the term “retributive” suggests, this involves a demand that punishment involves a paying back by the offender for his offense, and this notion of retribution is part of the justification of punishment. If the payment demanded by the Old Testament adage appears harsh and vindictive, the paymentdemanded by...
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Marshall, J. (2015). Punishment. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_362-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_362-1
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