PHIL 307 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Consequentialism, Overcoat
26 May 2016
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Document Summary
Bentham has this class of cases in which he thinks people should not be punished because the punishment would be inefficacious. He reaches these judgements on very different grounds than the grounds that seem right to them. The more familiar view is that they don"t deserve to be punished and that is why we shouldn"t punish them. There seems to be in principal no reason why consequentialists don"t just punish the innocence. There is also a question as to the amount of punishment. Bentham may have answered the part about punishing the innocent (although it wasn"t clear) Bentham says that you should not punish those who do not partake in mischief because it would be inefficacious. Sher says no; this is not a utilitarian view. A system that specifies certain mischiefs as liable to punishment and a system that specifies the types of punishments that are appropriate to the different kinds of harmful acts.
