Rethinking expressive theories of punishment: why denunciation is a better bet than communication or pure expression

摘要: Many philosophers hold that punishment has an expressive dimension. Advocates of theories have different views about what makes expressive, kinds mental states and claims are, or legitimately can be expressed in punishment, to kind audience recipients, if any, might express whatever it expresses. I shall argue order assess the plausibility expressivist approach justifying we need pay careful attention whether things which is supposed are aimed at audience. For ability any version expressivism withstand two important challenges, call harsh treatment challenge’ ‘publicity respectively. will depend on way answers them. The first these challenges received considerable discussion literature punishment; second considerably less. This unfortunate. consideration publicity challenge should lead us favor a theory been under-discussed: view intended audience, society large, rather than—as most popular view—the criminal. Furthermore, this turns out better equipped meet challenge, so precisely because meets challenge.