Moral Theory and Capital Punishment

Tom Sorell is Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University.

"Mr Sorell writes in a brisk and lively style: his readers will be grateful. At the same time he has produced a philosophically sophisticated exercise in moral rhetoric. He has been patient and lucid in his effort to connect moral themes with punitive policy, something few philosophers have tried and none achieved with better effect. American readers will learn from his dissection of parliamentary debate on the dealth penalty, while others will profit from his critique of the Supreme Court's major death penalty ruling." Hugo Adam Bedau, Tufts University

• Preface vii Acknowledgements ixCHAPTER ONE Killing: moral rhetoric and moral philosophy 11 Permissible killing 12 Principles and their sources 33 The rhetoric of life and death 74 Moral philosophy: normative ethics 135 Distrusting moral theory 166 Philosophy and impracticality 187 Exaggerated expectations 218 Philosophy and privileged access to the good 229 Philosophy and moral dilemmas 26CHAPTER Two A selected controversy 301 Applying philosophy 302 Pleading for the death penalty 323 Arguments against capital punishment 444 The limitations of rhetoric again 51CHAPTER THREE Moral theory and moral theories 561 Justification and moral theory 562 From theory to theories 623 Taking stock 77CHAPTER Four Utilitarianism and the death penalty 801 Mill's speech 812 Glover's abolitionist leanings 923 Glover versus Mill 99CHAPTER FIVE Cruel and unusual punishment? 1021 On not turning back the clock 1032 The American courts and the Eighth Amendment 1073 Justice Brennan's opinion in Furman 1104 From Furman to Gregg v. Georgia 1185 Other arguments 120CHAPTER SIX A Kantian approach 1291 Crime and punishment in Kant's civil society 1302 Kant on the death penalty 1363 Taking stock 143CHAPTER SEVEN Retributivism and Kant's retributivism 1471 Some principles 1472 Kant's theory and others 1543 Conclusion 160Index 165