CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Leuba, Justin Patrick |
|---|---|
| Title | An Argument for Prison Abolition and a Relational Theory of Rectification |
| Summary | This thesis presents an argument for the abolition of prisons based on Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition. I first criticize some arguments used to justify the state’s purported right to punish. I then use recognition theory to establish a set of desiderata for community-facilitated rectification, for a more general standard against which to evaluate prisons and punishment. Next, I argue that imprisonment, as a function of punishment, does not and cannot satisfy these desiderata for community-facilitated rectification. Lastly, I offer some theoretical alternatives to the punitive logic of state punishment. On the one hand, this thesis is an argument for disbanding a systematically unjust response to other injustices. On the other hand, it asks the reader to imagine a world in which one another’s humanity, and the other’s formative role in each of our senses of self, is central to how we collectively move forward from interpersonal and structural harm. |
| Supervisor | Rippon, Simon |
| Department | Philosophy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/leuba_justin.pdf |
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