Introduction

Anger with wrongdoers is often accompanied by the supposition that its target deserves to be the recipient of an expression of this emotion, one that intentionally causes pain or harm, which classify it as a retributive emotion. Chapter 1 introduces the claim that we do not need retribution, whether it be in justifying our responses to wrongdoing, or in the emotions employed in those responses. We have alternatives to retributive anger, and to anger more generally, that are practically and theoretically preferable. One way to motivate this stance is by skepticism about the control in action—the free will—required for retribution to be justified. This chapter summarizes the author’s argument for free will skepticism, which addresses the compatibilist and libertarian alternatives. Also proposed is that there are ethical considerations independent of the concern about control in action that serve to justify the antiretributivist stance.