PHIL 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Act Utilitarianism
15 Sep 2020
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Utilitarian: punishment is justifiable if and only if it promotes the interests of society. If punishment can deter criminals, then it"s justified. The degree of punishment depends on what level of punishment will have the best results. If it doesn"t do any good to punish a criminal, then it"s not as justified; too little might not have preventative power, too much might harden the criminal. Rehabilitative view - criminals needs treatment, not punishment; person is an object of treatment. Not worried about the moral wrongness of the act. Restored notion of justice - recognition of the wrongness. *rawls sees merit in both retributivist and utilitarian; wants to acknowledge the insight to both and reconcile the views. Utilitarian justification of practice: legislator: the whole institution of punishment. Retributivist justification of application of particular rules to particular individuals: judge. I. e. what rules should we apply in this particular case.
