Imagine this: you've stolen some money and now you're being sent to jail over it. The judiciary has deemed it appropriate for you and beneficial to society that you be locked away in a room with little to no privileges, until they declare that justice has been served.
Having been conditioned into society, such an idea does not immediately seem odd to most of us, but what if we dig a little beneath the surface? How does stripping one of one's liberty for any amount of time ensure "justice"? A prominent theory of justice suggests that it is merely "fairness", but how is fairness measured? It is just as abstract as time or money, or indeed as abstract as "society" itself.
In this episode, we open a new thread of discussion: punishment. We address some foundational theories of punishment, how they work, and what their purpose has been, historically. Consider this episode a precursor to a discussion on capital punishment, one that we hope to have in the future.
Mentioned in the Episode:
Punishment - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
What Animal Parents Can Teach Human Parents About Discipline
Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish
Khushwant Singh's A Train to Pakistan
‘No sexual assault’ in minor’s groping: Supreme Court stays Bombay HC order
