Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN: | 9780511769597 0511769598 0521886848 9780521886840 9780511770425 0511770421 9780521886840
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Notes: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-203) and index. Translated from the German. Print version record.
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Summary: | Against the background of early modernism - a period that justified punishment by general deterrence - Kant is usually thought to represent a radical turn towards retributivism. For Kant, and later for Fichte and Hegel, a just punishment respects the humanity inherent in the criminal, and serves no external ends - it is instituted only because the criminal deserves it. In this original study, Jean-Christophe Merle uses close analysis of texts to show that these philosophers did not in fact hold a retributivist position, or even a mixed position; instead he traces in their work the gradual emergence of views in favour of deterrence and resocialisation. He also examines Nietzsche's view that morality rests on the rejection of retribution. His final chapter offers a challenge to the retributivist position, and a defence of resocialisation, in the context of current legal theory and practice concerning the punishment of crimes against humanity.
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Other form: | Print version: Merle, Jean-Christophe. Strafen aus Respekt vor der Menschenwürde. English. German idealism and the concept of punishment. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009 9780521886840
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