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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    Retributive justice, from Kant through contemporary think... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Punishment cannot be justified even in principle and is morally wrong.

    Retributive justice, from Kant through contemporary thinkers like Michael Moore, holds that wrongdoers deserve to suffer proportionate consequences as a matter of basic moral fairness.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Moral fairness requires that those who violate others' rights experience consequences proportionate to their wrongdoing.
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    • 2.Without retributive consequences, wrongdoers gain unfair advantage over law-abiding citizens who restrain their desires.
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    • 3.Proportionate suffering restores moral balance and respects the wrongdoer's agency and rational autonomy.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Causing intentional suffering on wrongdoers violates basic human dignity regardless of their past actions.
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    • 2.Empirical evidence shows retributive punishment fails to deter crime better than rehabilitation or incapacitation.
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    • 3.Justice systems cannot calculate 'proportionate' suffering objectively—it reflects subjective cultural values, not moral truth.
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    Key Terms

    Kant(as used in epistemology and metaphysics)
    Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was an influential German philosopher who argued that our minds shape how we experience reality, and that we can only truly know things as they appear to us, not as they are in themselves.
    Michael Moore(as the author cited)
    A contemporary American legal philosopher and scholar who specializes in criminal law, causation, and moral responsibility; he's known for rigorously analyzing when we should hold people legally and morally accountable.
    Moral fairness(as the underlying principle justifying retributive justice)
    The idea that people should be treated in a way that respects what they've actually done and what they deserve—not arbitrarily or based on other factors.
    Proportionate consequences(as used in discussions of fair punishment)
    Punishments that match the seriousness of the wrongdoing—so a serious crime gets a serious punishment, and a minor offense gets a minor one.
    retributive justice(criminal law)
    The principle that those who culpably cause harm should suffer the censure and deprivations constitutive of punishment

    Connections

    1 topic

    Justice & Punishment1 linked

    Related

    Causing intentional suffering on wrongdoers violates basic human dignity regardl...Empirical evidence shows retributive punishment fails to deter crime better than...Justice systems cannot calculate 'proportionate' suffering objectively—it reflec...Moral fairness requires that those who violate others' rights experience consequ...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    +3 moreShow less
    Proportionate suffering restores moral balance and respects the wrongdoer's agen...Punishment cannot be justified even in principle and is morally wrong.Without retributive consequences, wrongdoers gain unfair advantage over law-abid...