Do We Have the Right to Punish Each Other
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21701742 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeehyun Lim (0000-0003-2273-0242, Australian National University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 313-326 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1386-2820 • E-ISSN: 1572-8447 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10677-025-10499-8 |
| OpenAlex | W4409957549 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 25 |
Social punishments– the informal penalties imposed by private individuals, rather than formal authorities– like the practice of online public shaming have attracted attention from philosophers, other academics, and journalists. Several have emphasized the harmful nature of social punishments, and the tendency of practices like public shaming to be disrespectful and disproportionate. So, what (if anything) justifies practices of social punishment like public shaming? Some authors have pointed out the important role social punishments play in enforcing morally valuable and authoritative norms, like norms against racist or sexist behaviour. In this paper, I argue that while these authors are correct in claiming that social punishments help to enforce valuable norms, their accounts fall short of explaining why private individuals are justified in imposing harm on others. Some obvious and intuitive explanations– like the claim that wrongdoers forfeit their rights against being harmed– fail to show that private individuals are permitted to harm others. As a result, more work needs to be done to develop our accounts of how and why social punishments can be justified
Epistemology · Law and economics · Ontology · Philosophy of medicine · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Forgiveness and Related Behaviors · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Torture, Ethics, and Law
The Problem of Punishment
The Ethics of Social Punishment
Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics
The Ends of HarmThe Moral Foundations of Criminal Law
An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness
Explaining Norms
Norms in the Wild
Drag Them
The Problem of Public Shaming
When Shaming Is Shameful
Necessity in Self‐Defense and War
Do I Make a Difference
Rule Over None I
Enforcing social norms
A Human Right Against Social Deprivation
A Deterrence Theory of Punishment
Collective harm and the inefficacy problem
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |