scholarly journals Adam Smith and the Theory of Punishment

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Stalley
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Moral Justification ◽  
Impartial Spectator ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Justification Of Punishment ◽  
The Many

A distinctive theory of punishment plays a central role in Smith's moral and legal theory. According to this theory, we regard the punishment of a crime as deserved only to the extent that an impartial spectator would go along with the actual or supposed resentment of the victim. The first part of this paper argues that Smith's theory deserves serious consideration and relates it to other theories such as utilitarianism and more orthodox forms of retributivism. The second part considers the objection that, because Smith's theory implies that punishment is justified only when there is some person or persons who is the victim of the crime, it cannot explain the many cases where punishment is imposed purely for the public good. It is argued that Smith's theory could be extended to cover such cases. The third part defends Smith's theory against the objection that, because it relies on our natural feelings, it cannot provide an adequate moral justification of punishment.

scholarly journals Brutus' Ultimum dilemma or Is there a moral justification for killing Caesar?

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-534
Author(s):  
Evgenij Derzhivitskij ◽  
Vadim Perov ◽  
Andrey Polozhentsev
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Moral Justification ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Philosophical Reflection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Purpose ◽  
Political Works ◽  
The Way

The article examines how to apply moral and philosophical reflection in the commission of a crime. An action is the result of solving an equation with many variables. This is overcoming legal, moral, philosophical, and emotional contradictions. However, modern legal and ethical thought closes the way for understanding its causes and motives. As an example, we examine the conspiracy and murder of Caesar in Rome in 44 BC. The article reveals objective differences in the understanding of morality in antiquity and in modern ethical science. Here we analyze the philosophical and ethical grounds that will help solve this dilemma. First of all, we considered the philosophical and political works and letters of Cicero. His reasoning about the duties of a citizen might have influenced Brutus' decision to participate in the conspiracy against Caesar and accept the moral choice as his fate. Brutus did not act as a murderer, but as an exponent of public purpose and public utility, for whom the purpose of the act was the public good, incompatible with tyranny.

scholarly journals Corporate Responsibility: In the Dilemma between Fake and Trust?

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 143-147
Author(s):  
Simon Fietze ◽  
Wenzel Matiaske ◽  
Roland Menges
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Market Organization ◽  
Corporate Social

The accusation of whitewashing accompanied the discussion about corporate social responsibility (CSR) since its inception the 1950s. That's not surprising. Ever since its beginnings in Scottish moral philosophy, economics did not expect the general good to be enhanced by the individual's social orientation, but rather by its self-interest, a concept less liable to disappointment, and the work of the invisible hand (Hirschman, 1977). The latter aims to promote a common goal that individuals have not intended. Following his famous text, Adam Smith (2007 [1786], p. 350) continues: ‘I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.’ The ‘mistrust’ of the ‘goodwill’ of the capitalist lives on in various streams such as Marxism, (neo-)liberalism or sociological system theory, to name but a few schools of thought. Marxists do not expect societal progress any more than (neo-)liberals from benevolent capitalists who, demand more taxable profits, instead of social responsibility, in the framework of the market organization of companies. System theorists find that ethical demands are hardly transferable directly into the economy code of payment/non-payment. Although Adam Smith (2007 [1786], p. 350) shared the view that the claim of public good orientation is ‘indeed, not very common among merchants’, but that ‘very few words need to be employed in dissuading them from it.’

scholarly journals The Bureau and the Realism of Spy Fiction

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-249
Author(s):  
Pauline Blistène
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Ordinary Sense ◽  
Ordinary Experience ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Many ◽  
Serial Fiction ◽  
Narrative Conventions

Abstract This article addresses the issue of realism in relationship to contemporary serial fiction. Drawing on The Bureau (Canal+, 2015–2020), it argues that spy TV series are “realistic” not because they correspond to reality but because of their impact on reality. It begins by giving an overview of the many ways in which “realism,” in the ordinary sense of a resemblance with reality, served as the working framework for The Bureau’s team. It then identifies three distinct types of realisms in the series. The first is a “fictional realism,” namely the ability of The Bureau to conform to the aesthetic and narrative conventions of realistic fictions. The second type of realism, which I qualify as “ordinary,” refers to the possibilities offered by the show’s aesthetics and the enmeshment of The Bureau with viewers’ ordinary experience. The third type of “performative realism” refers to the series’ impact on shared representations and reality. By providing a common language about the secret activities of the state, The Bureau has gone from being a framed version of reality to being one of the defining frameworks through which state secrecy is experienced both individually and collectively, by insiders and the public at large.

scholarly journals Courts and Proceedings: Some Nordic Characteristics

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Pia Letto-Vanamo
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Court System ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper will discuss the characteristics of the court system and proceedings in the Nordic countries. The analysis is based on the idea of Nordic legal systems as a group bound both by historical similarities between them and by advanced legal cooperation between different legal actors. First, the main features of socio-legal developments, legal theory and legal practices characterising Nordic legal systems are discussed. Then, ideas, methods and results of cooperation in the field of law are described. ‘Nordicness’ within legal and judicial institutions is highlighted with three examples. The first example concerns popular participation, especially the importance of lay judges. The second example concerns the relationship between the legislator and the judiciary and the non-existence of constitutional courts. Finally, the third example discusses the many modes of conflict resolution typical in the Nordic countries.

scholarly journals Provision of noxious facilities using a market-like mechanism: A simple implementation in the lab

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Mantilla ◽  
Federica Alberti
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Waste Incinerator ◽  
Public Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Noxious Facilities ◽  
Simple Implementation ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Member

We study the provision of a public project that globally behaves as a public good but locally behaves as a private bad. This scenario imposes two problems: (i) finding a compensation that makes the project acceptable for the pre-determined host, and (ii) securing the budget to pay for the project and the required compensation. We use a market-like mechanism with two useful properties for this scenario: players can either contribute or request subsidies to fund the public project, and players have veto power over the desired project quantity. In our game, two players benefit from a waste incinerator facility, whereas the third group member, the host, is harmed if the facility is too large. We analyze the efficiency and the re-distributive potential of this mechanism, with and without communication, among group members. We find that the probability of positive provision did not differ with and without communication. However, average provided quantities with respect to the efficient quantity increased from 54% to 81% with communication. We also find that contributions fell below the Lindahl taxes, allowing the players who benefit from a larger facility to accrue most of the efficiency gains. The latter result is consistent with the infrequent evidence of veto threats as a bargaining strategy.

scholarly journals Prescriptive Norms and Social Comparisons

Games ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Moti Michaeli ◽  
Daniel Spiro
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Multiple Equilibria ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
The Other ◽  
Unique Equilibrium ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third

This paper analyzes the equilibrium strength of prescriptive norms to contribute to public goods. We consider three methods of establishing what an acceptable contribution to the public good is. Under the first method, the contribution of the bottom contributor is the reference point by which the comparison is being made; under the second, the median contribution is the reference point; and under the third the top contribution is the reference. The first method results in a unique equilibrium and the reference contribution is endogenously low. Each of the latter two methods allows for multiple equilibria differing in contributions made and thus in the strength of the norm to contribute. Comparing the methods we show that the median reference allows for the highest equilibrium contributions and welfare of all methods hence is the preferred method if, among the multiple equilibria, the best one can be selected. However, the bottom-reference is the maximin method, i.e., it provides safe minimal aggregate contribution and welfare that surpass the worst outcome in the other two methods.

Sacred Laws and Sacred Republics

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Viroli
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
The Public ◽  
Divine Wisdom ◽  
Religious System ◽  
Decent Life ◽  
Will To Live ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Many ◽  
Sacred Laws

This chapter considers theories on sacred laws and republics. For civic humanists, laws are sacred as long as they reflect divine wisdom, and because their object is not just whatever is good but rather the divine good, which is the public good. In order to ignite and sustain loyalty within a citizenry toward laws and statutes, a republic must foster its religious system with great diligence. Furthermore, a republic must educate its citizenry to love justice and the fatherland, through both the teaching imparted by good and revered priests, and ceremonies that strike and move the multitudes' sentiments. Palmieri, for instance, believes that religion instills a sense of duty and reinforces within men's souls the will to live in accordance with justice. He emphasizes that God loves the decent life and wants to preserve it, and therefore rewards men involved in the excellent deeds of “extirpating tyrants for the good of the many” as well as “establishing good and peaceful governments.”

scholarly journals Pro Bono Legal Work: The disconnect between saying you’ll do it and doing it

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-53
Author(s):  
Vinny Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Obligations ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Pro Bono ◽  
The Many

Pro bono is a significant component of one of the many professional obligations a lawyer has to fulfil for the public good. It is evident that this is acknowledged by not only those who practice law, but those who are training to be a lawyer and by the professional bodies. Despite this acknowledgement there is a clear disconnect between the importance placed on delivering pro bono services and the actual delivery of the same. There have been previous suggestions that in order to increase the commitment to pro bono work, there is a need to mandate its delivery. However, the notion of mandatory pro bono work has always been dismissed and therefore it is now appropriate to consider other ways in which a commitment could be encouraged and adopted. This paper will consider the reasons why the profession, at all stages, considers pro bono to be such an important social function and whether such motivations are sufficient to sustain a commitment throughout a lawyer’s career. Such considerations will be made from the perspective of a solicitor in England and Wales, as this is connected to the author’s own pro bono experience. The paper will also consider why there is a disconnect, and what the rationale is for non-participation in pro bono work once in practice. It will consider the key barriers to full participation and recommend action that ought to be taken in order to develop a pro bono culture and therefore commitment.

scholarly journals Voting Power and the Public Good Index: Some Thoughts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Weber
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Power Indices ◽  
Voting Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Index ◽  
Public Good Index ◽  
The Many

Among the many voting power indices, the public good index (PGI) is one of the less well-known ones. Holler (2018) posits some hypotheses about why this is the case. In response, I share a few thoughts here on voting power in general and about the popularity of the PGI.

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