Punishment and Community: the Reintegrative Theory of Punishment

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

1996

Author

Reitan, Eric

Journal

Canadian Journal of Philosophy

Volume

26

Number

1

Pages

57-81

Publisher

University of Calgary

Language

English

Publish Dates

March

Keywords

community
justice
punishment

Annotation

Reitan seeks to explicate Simone Weil's theory of punishment, a theory he calls reintegrative. He begins with an in-depth analysis of the concept of community, going on to further elaborate on 'the community of good citizens', a concept central to the theory he wants to present. He then turns to a more developed presentation of his theory. Here he draws solely on Weil's 'Needs of the Soul', a relatively small section of her Need for Roots. He is especially interested in Weil's notion of punishment as obligation, as well as, to a lesser degree, the ideas of balance and its importance for her understanding of justice. The article ends with a brief consideration of objections that could be raised to the theory as he has presented it.