The Ethics of Social Punishment
The Enforcement of Morality in Everyday Life

This book critically evaluates the way ordinary people enforce morality in everyday life.

Linda Radzik (Author), Christopher Bennett (Author), Glen Pettigrove (Author), George Sher (Author)

9781108836067, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 November 2020

180 pages
24 x 16 x 1.5 cm, 0.9 kg

'Linda Radzik's new book is truly excellent. It is resolute, inviting, very well written, and extremely timely.' Leo Zaibert, Criminal Law and Philosophy

How do we punish others socially, and should we do so? In her 2018 Descartes Lectures for Tilburg University, Linda Radzik explores the informal methods ordinary people use to enforce moral norms, such as telling people off, boycotting businesses, and publicly shaming wrongdoers on social media. Over three lectures, Radzik develops an account of what social punishment is, why it is sometimes permissible, and when it must be withheld. She argues that the proper aim of social punishment is to put moral pressure on wrongdoers to make amends. Yet the permissibility of applying such pressure turns on the tension between individual desert and social good, as well as the possession of an authority to punish. Responses from Christopher Bennett, George Sher and Glen Pettigrove challenge Radzik's account of social punishment while also offering alternative perspectives on the possible meanings of our responses to wrongdoing. Radzik replies in the closing essay.

Preface
Part I. The Descartes Lectures 2018: 1. Defining social punishment
2. Justifying social punishment
3. Practicing social punishment
Part II. Commentaries: 4. How to do things with blame (and social punishment) Christopher Bennett
5. On social punishment George Sher
6. Punishment and protest Glen Pettigrove
Part III. Replies: 7. Replies to Bennett, Sher and Pettigrove Linda Radzik
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethical issues & debates [JFM], Social interaction [JFFP], Society & culture: general [JF], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy [HP]