DOCSLIB.ORG

Kant's Typo, and the Limits of the Law

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kant's Typo, and the Limits of the Law Kant's Typo, and the Limits of the Law The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Newhouse, Marie E. 2013. Kant's Typo, and the Limits of the Law. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11158257 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Kant’s Typo, and the Limits of the Law A dissertation presented by Marie E. Newhouse to The Committee on Higher Degrees in Public Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Public Policy Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April 2013 i © 2013 Marie E. Newhouse All rights reserved. ii Advisor: Professor Arthur Applbaum Marie E. Newhouse Kant’s Typo, and the Limits of the Law Abstract This dissertation develops a Kantian philosophical framework for understanding our individual obligations under public law. Because we have a right to do anything that is not wrong, the best interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s Universal Principle of Right tracks the two ways—material and formal—in which actions can be wrong. This interpretation yields surprising insights, most notably a novel formulation of Kant’s standard for formal wrongdoing. Because the wrong-making property of a formally wrong action does not depend on whether or not the action in question has been prohibited by statute, Kant’s legal philosophy is consistent with a natural law theory of public crime. Moreover, because the law can obligate us only by establishing a universal external incentive to obey its commands, statutes that impose only fines on nominal violators do not constrain our lawful options. Instead, if they are otherwise just, such statutes must be regarded as rightful permissive laws, according to which we may incur liabilities through our voluntary choices. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: RIGHTS, FREEDOM, AND THE STATE..........................5 WHAT IS RIGHT?..................................................................................................... 6 A TAXONOMY OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.....................................................................13 THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF RIGHTS IN A STATE OF NATURE........................................... 25 JUSTIFYING THE STATE.......................................................................................... 29 THE IDEA OF THE ORIGINAL CONTRACT................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 2: ACTING RIGHTLY ...................................................... 40 THE UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT ................................................................... 41 THE NATURE OF MATERIAL WRONGS .................................................................... 45 THE NATURE OF FORMAL WRONGS ....................................................................... 52 REMEDIES AND PUNISHMENTS .............................................................................. 62 KANT’S TYPO.........................................................................................................69 CHAPTER 3: THE LIMITS OF THE LAW ..........................................78 POSSIBLE LAWGIVING ........................................................................................... 79 AUTHORIZATION AND FORMAL DEFECTS................................................................ 85 THE LIMITS OF THE CRIMINAL LAW .......................................................................90 THE “HIGHEST LEGISLATION” ............................................................................. 100 CHAPTER 4: ACTING LAWFULLY .................................................106 LEGAL OBLIGATION REQUIRES A UNIVERSAL EXTERNAL INCENTIVE ..................... 108 MONETARY PENALTIES ARE NOT UNIVERSAL INCENTIVES.....................................114 FINES ESTABLISH ONLY PERMISSIVE LAWS ...........................................................118 ARE REGULATORY VIOLATIONS NECESSARILY MATERIAL WRONGS? ..................... 122 ARE REGULATORY VIOLATIONS NECESSARILY FORMAL WRONGS? .........................127 CONCLUSION................................................................................. 134 iv To my beloved husband, Sean Newhouse, who has earned it. v Introduction At first glance, Kant’s political thought can appear bafflingly inconsistent. On one hand, Kant holds that political authority is justified exclusively as a necessary precondition to our individual freedom. On the other hand, Kant seems at times to embrace a deeply repressive account of state power. He declares that the state’s laws are necessarily consistent with our freedom, and yet he insists that we must not resist even the most unbearable injustices perpetrated by despotic regimes. In the pages that follow, I will attempt to reconcile these seemingly conflicting aspects of Kant’s political thought. Part of the trick involves noticing that, for Kant, there is no difference between law and justified political power. Kant’s justification for political power is formal—and therefore legal—in nature. A formal account of political legitimacy entails a formal account of political obligation. This raises challenging questions about our specific obligations: if our obligations do not depend on anyone’s actual intentions or material interests, then how can we know definitively what the state has obligated us to do? I will show that our legal obligations are exactly those actions that we are rationally required to undertake or refrain from undertaking as a result of the state’s legitimate exercise of its coercive power. In Chapter 1, I relate Kant’s legal and political philosophy to his moral philosophy and describe the basic conceptual apparatus of Kant’s legal and political thought. I begin by offering Arthur Ripstein’s account of the nature of the relationship between the Categorical Imperative, Kant’s foundational 1 principle of ethics, and Kant’s Universal Principal of Right, in the context of Kant’s account of the relationship between freedom and the moral law in Critique of Practical Reason. I then describe Kant’s conception of external freedom— independence from constraint by the choice of another person—and explain why our freedom necessarily includes acquired rights of property, contract, and status. As Kant understands these rights, they are impossible in the state of nature. I then analyze Kant’s argument that freedom under law is possible because state coercion can be thought of as having been authorized by those subject to it. I describe “the idea of the original contract,” which for Kant is the regulative principle of the state, and the internal structure of the “three authorities” that together constitute it. In Chapter 2, I answer the question: how do we know which actions are right? I begin by offering my own interpretation of Kant’s Universal Principle of Right, according to which Kant establishes a dual test for the rightness of actions. I argue that my interpretation better accords with Kant’s language than do alternative readings, according to which Kant establishes a single standard. My interpretation has the further advantage of tracking the two distinct types of wrong actions that Kant describes elsewhere: formal wrongs and material wrongs. Because we have a right to do anything that is not wrong, formal and material wrongs should exhaust the category of conduct that Universal Principle of Right excludes. Material wrongs are actions that violate the innate or acquired rights of another human being. Formal wrongs are actions that violate “the right of human beings as such” to live in a rightful condition. I draw on Kant’s account of the difference between physical opposition and logical opposition in Critique 2 of Pure Reason to explain how material and formal wrongs give rise to different kinds of remedies. Finally, I explain how my analysis of wrongdoing supports my argument in favor of a two-standard interpretation of the Universal Principle of Right, and I suggest that the meaning of Kant’s principle might be obscured by a typographical error. In Chapter 3, I argue that the state’s legislative authority is limited to enactments that do not logically contradict the concept of a rightful condition. Because legislation is a conceptual act, I argue that this limitation affects lawmakers as a disability—statutes that contradict the concept of a rightful condition simply fail to be laws. If I am correct, my analysis suggests that the state’s criminal lawmaking authority is surprisingly limited—lawmakers can only criminalize conduct that is already formally wrong. Alternative, positivist interpretations of Kant’s legal philosophy are mistaken, because they fail to attend to the distinction between the state’s legislative authority and its executive authority. I reconcile my view with Kant’s famous opposition to resistance and revolution by showing that these activities are inconsistent with the idea of the original contract, while mere passive disobedience of unlawful statutes is not wrong. In Chapter 4, I distinguish permissive law from obligatory law, and I show that the state must establish an external incentive for us to comply with the terms
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Threats and Consent
    Wrongs and Crimes Chapter 11 Threats and Consent Note: This is a draft chapter from a long book on criminalization entitled Wrongs and Crimes that I am in the process of completing. It is one of four chapters on consent. I hope that it is reasonably self-standing (though, obviously, all apparent egregious errors are shown to be brilliant insights in other parts of the book). Victor Tadros Threats and deception can undermine valid consent. When do they do so? Why do they do so? What affects the gravity of the resultant wrongdoing? And when should the conduct that the victim does not consent to be criminalized as a result? Although these questions are general I will explore them in the important and difficult realm of wrongful penetrative sex. This chapter is concerned with threats, the next with deception. Work on sexual wrongdoing generates sharp disagreement, not only about what we should think, but also about how we should think about it. Some are hostile to the use of my standard philosophical method in this context, especially the use of unusual hypothetical cases. Using this method, some think, trivializes sexual wrongdoing, or fails to show respect to victims of wrongdoing. In employing this method, I aim at a clearer and deeper grasp of sexual wrongdoing. As we will see, the nature and scope of sexual wrongdoing is by no means obvious. We owe it to victims and potential victims of sexual wrongdoing to use the tools that are best suited to develop a clear and deep grasp of that wrongdoing.
    [Show full text]
  • Sagicor Fraud & Other Wrongdoing Policy
    SAGICOR FRAUD & OTHER WRONGDOING POLICY September 2008 i Sagicor Fraud and Other Wrongdoing Policy TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction ………………………….……………….……………………………… 1 2 Scope of Policy ………………………………………………...…..……………..... 1 3 Definitions and Actions That May Constitute Fraud ……………..……………... 1 4 Other Inappropriate or Wrongful Conduct ……………………………………….. 2 5 Related Policies……………………………………………………………………… 2 6 Confidentiality……………...………………...………………...………………...….. 2 7 Whistleblower Protection..…….……………...………………...………………...... 3 8 Responsibilities……………………………………………………………...………. 3 8.1 Management ………………………...…………………..……………… 3 8.2 Employees …………………………….....……………...…………..….. 3 8.3 Enterprise Risk Management …………………………………...…..… 4 8.4 Internal Audit……………………......……….………………………..…. 4 8.5 Legal Department ………………………………………………………. 4 8.6 Audit Committee and Board of Directors……………………………... 4 8.7 Various Departments …..……………...………………...………….…. 4 8.8 Investigation Unit ……………..……………..……………...…….……. 4 8.9 Investigation Team…..…………...………………...………………...… 5 9 Security of Evidence ………………...……………...………………...…………… 5 10 Authorization for Investigating Suspected Fraud or other Wrongdoing ….…… 5 11 Reporting Procedures……………...………………...………………...…………… 5 11.3 Employees ……………………………………..……………......………. 5 11.4 Managers ………………………………………………………………… 6 11.5 Company Compliance Officers ………………………………………... 6 11.6 Anonymous Reports …………………………..……………...………… 6 11.7 Investigation Inquiries…………………………………………………… 6 12 Termination ………………………………………………………………………….. 6 13 Administration ……………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Know Your Rights When Reporting Wrongs
    KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN REPORTING WRONGS Whistleblower disclosures can save lives as well as billions of taxpayer dollars. They play a critical role in keeping our government honest, efficient and accountable. Recognizing that whistleblowers root out waste, fraud and abuse, and protect public health and safety, federal laws strongly encourage employees to disclose wrongdoing. Federal laws also protect federal employees from retaliation. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) plays an important role in helping whistleblowers. OSC is an independent agency that protects federal employees from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), including whistleblower retaliation and unlawful hiring practices, such as nepotism. OSC also provides an independent, secure channel for disclosing and resolving wrongdoing in federal agencies. This guide provides a summary of whistleblower protections and avenues available to employees to disclose wrongdoing. For more information, please visit OSC’s website at www.osc.gov. Disclosures of Wrongdoing Where can I report wrongdoing? Current and former federal employees and applicants (henceforth “federal employees”) can report on any of the following types of wrongdoing: • a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, • gross mismanagement, • a gross waste of funds, • an abuse of authority, • a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or • censorship related to scientific research if censorship meets one of the above-listed categories. Federal employees have many options on where to disclose wrongdoing, including but not limited to, making disclosures to supervisors or someone higher up in management; the agency’s Inspector General (IG); OSC; or, Congress. For whistleblower disclosures involving classified national security information or other information protected from public release by law (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Admissions of Guilt in Civil Enforcement Verity Winship
    University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository Minnesota Law Review 2018 Admissions of Guilt in Civil Enforcement Verity Winship Jennifer K. Robbennolt Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Winship, Verity and Robbennolt, Jennifer K., "Admissions of Guilt in Civil Enforcement" (2018). Minnesota Law Review. 100. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr/100 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Minnesota Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Minnesota Law Review collection by an authorized administrator of the Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Article Admissions of Guilt in Civil Enforcement Verity Winship† & Jennifer K. Robbennolt†† Introduction ............................................................................. 1078 I. The Context of Civil Enforcement ................................... 1083 A. Agency Enforcement ................................................... 1083 B. The Role of Settlement ............................................... 1088 C. Consequences of Admissions Policy .......................... 1091 II. Admission Models ............................................................. 1095 A. No Admission .............................................................. 1096 1. Factual Allegations .............................................. 1097 2. Denial .................................................................... 1100 3. No Denial
    [Show full text]
  • The Forfeiture by Wrongdoing Exception To
    THE FORFEITURE BY WRONGDOING EXCEPTION TO THE CONFRONTATION RULE * JAMESMARKHAM JULY 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.................................................................................................................1 I. Background..........................................................................................................4 II. The Forfeiture Exception to the Crawford Rule..................................................4 A.A Note on Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6)..............................................5 B.Intent to silence...............................................................................................7 1.Cases Finding No Intent-to-Silence Requirement......................................8 2. Cases Preserving the Intent-to-Silence Requirement.................................9 C.Reflexive Application of the Forfeiture Rule...............................................11 1.Cases Applying Forfeiture Reflexively....................................................13 2.Cases Refusing to Apply Forfeiture Reflexively.....................................16 D.Standard of Proof..........................................................................................17 Conclusion................................................................................................................19 INTRODUCTION The Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford v. Washington1 transformed its doctrine governing the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. UnderCrawford, the Confrontation
    [Show full text]
  • Does Criminal Justice Work? the ‘Right for the Wrong Reasons’ Debate
    Monograph Number 3 Does criminal justice work? The ‘Right for the wrong reasons’ debate Crime AN D Society FOUNDATION Edited by Richard Garside and Will McMahon Crime and Society Foundation 26-29 Drury Lane London WC2B 5RL Tel 020 7848 1685 Fax 020 7848 1686 [email protected] www.crimeandsociety.org.uk A project of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD), School of Law, King’s College London. Registered Charity No 251588 A Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No 496821 © Crime and Society Foundation October 2006 ISBN-13: 978-0-9548903-3-9 ISBN-10: 0-9548903-3-7 2 Does criminal justice work? The ‘Right for the wrong reasons’ debate Crime AN D Society FOUNDATION 1 2 Contents 1 Introduction: Is criminal justice failing? 5 Richard Garside and Will McMahon 2 Right for the wrong reasons: Making sense of criminal justice failure 9 Richard Garside 3 Be careful what you wish for 41 Professor Ian Loader 4 Criminal justice is complex 51 Geoff Dobson 5 Being honest about criminal justice 57 Rob Allen 6 Protecting who from what? 65 Professor Joe Sim 3 7 There is no consensus on policy 71 Edward Garnier QC MP 8 Crime and criminal justice: A Liberal Democrat perspective 77 Nick Clegg MP 9 Our nation’s future: The criminal justice system 85 Speech given by Tony Blair at the University of Bristol, 23 June 2006. 4 INTRODUCTION www.crimeandsociety.org.uk Crime AN D 1 Society FOUNDATION Introduction Is criminal justice failing? Richard Garside and Will McMahon In July 2006, the Crime and Society Foundation published a pamphlet that examined the Labour government’s claim that the criminal justice system required fundamental reform if it was to tackle crime and protect the public.
    [Show full text]
  • Meaning of Wrongdoing-A Crime of Disrespecting the Flag: Grounds for Preserving "National Unity"?
    1 920099 5351 AM WATTAD 1/9/2009 9-53:51 AM The Meaning of Wrongdoing-A Crime of Disrespecting the Flag: Grounds for Preserving "National Unity"? DR. MOHAMMED SAIF-ALDEN WATTAD* * Post-Doctoral Minerva Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute, Freiburg, Germany (2007/2008). Halbert Research Fellow of the Munk Centre for International Studies for Post-Doctoral Studies, and Visiting Scholar of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (2006/2007). Doctor in Law, Columbia University Law School with specialization in international and comparative aspects of Criminal Law, comparative aspects of Constitutional Law, International Law, the Laws of War, and Legal Philosophy (2007). Fulbright Scholar. Bretzfelder Constitutional Law Fellow, and Special Fellow of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. The author is a former clerk of the Supreme Court of Israel, under the supervision of Justice Dalia Dorner (2003/2004). This article is part of a doctoral dissertation presented to Columbia University School of Law (2007). The author would like to dedicate this Article to his nephew Souhil. The author is most grateful to Professor George P. Fletcher, Professor Michael C. Dorf, Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, Professor Gillian Metzger, and Dr. Khalid Ghanayeim for reviewing an early draft of this Article. The author gratefully acknowledges the comments provided by Hon. (ret.) Chief Justice Aharon Barak. Hon. (ret.) Justice Dalia Dorner, both of the Supreme Court of Israel, Professor Lorraine Weinrib. Professor Ed Morgan, Professor Arthur Ripstein. and Professor Alan Brudner, all of Toronto University Faculty of Law, Dr. Ruth Kannai, of Bar Ilan University School of Law, Ozbej Merc and Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Perspectives on Organizational Wrongdoing
    Comp. by: Pg2689 Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0001352126 Date:23/9/11 Time:17:52:06 Filepath:d:/womat-filecopy/0001352126.3D OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 23/9/2011, SPi 2 Two Perspectives On Organizational Wrongdoing Organization wrongdoing can be viewed from two contrasting perspectives: one which views organizational wrongdoing as an abnormal phenomenon and one which views it as a normal phenomenon. Further, the causes of organizational wrongdoing can be understood from two approaches: a domi- nant outlook and an alternative one. Finally, there are eight different specific explanations of wrongdoing. Below I outline the two contrasting perspectives on wrongdoing, elaborate the two different approaches to understanding the causes of wrongdoing, and foreshadow the eight explanations of wrongdoing. I also indicate why I believe the explanations of wrongdoing that flow from the normal organizational wrongdoing perspective and that embrace the alternative approach to understanding wrongdoing are particularly worthy of greater attention and development. Following my discussion of the perspectives, approaches, and explanations that form the core of this book, I present a detailed description of an instance of organizational wrongdoing that illustrates the two different approaches to understanding the causes of wrongdoing. This description will serve both to solidify my characterization of the difference between the two approaches and introduce the type of evidence upon which I will draw when elaborating the explanations of wrongdoing considered in the book. I end the chapter with a few remarks about what I consider to be the book’s main message and my overarching objective in writing it. I suspect that some of the arguments that I develop in Normal Organizational Wrongdoing will run against the grain.
    [Show full text]
  • The Criminal Law and the Luck of the Draw*
    Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 84 Article 1 Issue 4 Winter Winter 1994 The rC iminal Law and the Luck of the Draw Sanford H. Kadish Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Sanford H. Kadish, The rC iminal Law and the Luck of the Draw, 84 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 679 (Winter 1994) This Supreme Court Review is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/94/8404-0679 THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 84, No. 4 Copyright 0 1994 by Northwestern University, School of Law Printed in U.S.A. SUPREME COURT REVIEW FOREWORD: THE CRIMINAL LAW AND THE LUCK OF THE DRAW* SANFORD H. KADISH** I propose to consider what to make of a doctrine of the criminal law that seems to me not rationally supportable notwithstanding its near universal acceptance in Western law, the support of many ju- rists and philosophers, and its resonance with the intuitions of law- yers and lay people alike. This is the doctrine-the harm doctrine, I'll call it-that reduces punishment for intentional wrongdoers (and often precludes punishment for negligent and reckless wrong- doers) if by chance the harm they intended or risked does not occur. I will also consider a corollary of the harm doctrine which offers a full defense if it so happens that, unbeknownst to the defendants, the harm they intended could not possibly have been done.
    [Show full text]
  • Felony Judgment Findings of Aggravating and Mitigating Factors
    File No. STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA In The General Court Of Justice County District Superior Court Division STATE VERSUS FELONY JUDGMENT Name Of Defendant FINDINGS OF AGGRAVATING AND MITIGATING FACTORS Offense (STRUCTURED SENTENCING) G.S. 15A-1340.16 NOTE: When consolidating offenses for judgment, findings of aggravating factors and mitigating factors should be made only for the most serious offense. Separate findings of aggravating factors and mitigating factors should be made for each offense that is not consolidated. AGGRAVATING FACTORS 1. The Defendant: a. induced others to participate in the commission of the offense. b. occupied a position of leadership or dominance of other participants in the commission of the offense. 2. The defendant joined with more than one other person in committing the offense and was not charged with committing a conspiracy. 2a. The offense was committed for the benefit of, or at the direction of, any (check one) (offenses committed Dec. 1, 1997 - Nov. 30, 2017) criminal street gang, (offenses committed on or after Dec. 1, 2017) criminal gang as defined by G.S. 14-50.16A(1), with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, and the defendant was not charged with committing a conspiracy. 3. The offense was committed for the purpose of: a. avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest. b. effecting an escape from custody. 4. The defendant was: a. hired to commit the offense. b. paid to commit the offense. 5. The offense was committed to: a. disrupt b. hinder the lawful exercise of a governmental function or the enforcement of laws.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Reading of Kant's Theory of Punishment
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2015 A New Reading of Kant's Theory of Punishment Robert Hoffman University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Hoffman, Robert, "A New Reading of Kant's Theory of Punishment" (2015). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1063. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1063 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1063 For more information, please contact [email protected]. A New Reading of Kant's Theory of Punishment Abstract There are deep, insurmountable difficulties with the aditionaltr interpretation of Immanuel Kantâ??s writings on the subject of punishment. Although it is undeniable that throughout his published writings on practical philosophy â?? and in particular in his Metaphysics of Morals â?? he consistently advocates for the view that punishment can only be justified as a direct response to an individualâ??s act of wrongdoing, his status as one of the foremost theorists in the retributivist pantheon is philosophically untenable. In this dissertation, I articulate the ways in which Kantâ??s explicit support for retributivism directly contradicts more foundational elements of his practical philosophy and argue instead that he has the resources to consistently construct a deterrent theory of punishment. In particular, I highlight Kantâ??s division
    [Show full text]
  • Aquinas on the Sources of Wrongdoing: Themes from Mccluskey
    OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 1/8/2019, SPi Aquinas on the Sources of Wrongdoing Themes from McCluskey Thomas Williams Over the last twenty years or so, philosophers have increasingly recognized the fruitfulness of approaching both the history of philosophy and contested issues in contemporary philosophy by way of an in- vestigation of evil. To take just two examples, Susan Neiman’s much- discussed Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy takes evil as the organizing principle for her historiography of modern philosophy,¹ and Claudia Card explores the notion in a contemporary context in The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil.² The approach has borne fruit in medieval philosophy as well: a new six-volume history of evil includes The History of Evil in the Medieval Age: 450–1450 CE,³ edited by Andrew Pinsent, and Bonnie Kent has written on “Evil in Later Medieval Philosophy.”⁴ Colleen McCluskey’s Thomas Aquinas on Moral Wrongdoing⁵ is a worthy and impressive entry in this literature. McCluskey examines the metaphysical foundations of Aquinas’s ethics, his account of evil as a privation, the powers of the soul from which wrongdoing originates, and evil habits, or vices. I shall focus on what I take to be McCluskey’s most significant contribution, the three chapters devoted to a careful exploration of the three sources of moral wrongdoing—defects in the ¹ Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. ² Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ³ New York: Routledge, 2018. ⁴ Journal of the History of Philosophy 45 (2007), 177–205. ⁵ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 1/8/2019, SPi 244 intellect (covered in Chapter 3), defects in the sensory appetite (Chapter 4), and defects in the will (Chapter 5)—and treat the other chapters somewhat briefly.
    [Show full text]