NSSR Philosophy Workshop - Jay Bernstein (NSSR)- Democratic Bodies: the Abolition of Torture and the Uprising of the Rule of Law September 13, 2012

NSSR Philosophy Workshop - Jay Bernstein (NSSR)- Democratic Bodies: the Abolition of Torture and the Uprising of the Rule of Law

Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Democratic Bodies: The Abolition of Torture and the Uprising of the Rule of Law

For nearly 500 years torture had a central role in all European legal systems: first, as a central element in the law of evidence; and second, as a component of the penal system. In the revised Roman-canon legal system (a secularizing of the legal system that began in the 12th century) crimes for which a blood sanction – the death penalty, or severe mutilation or maiming – was appropriate required either the testimony of two eyewitnesses or a confession. This was a hard standard to satisfy; hence, torture was used as a supplement to half proofs (one eyewitness or strong circumstantial evidence) in order to ‘prompt’ a confession. Without torture, the law of evidence would have been unusable for serious crimes. Yet, with breathtaking rapidity, torture was abolished throughout Europe in the second half of the 18th century. If not the prime cause of the abolition, Ceasare Beccaria’s On Crime and Punishments – arguably one of if not the most influential philosophical work of the 18th century – was central to the continuation and completion of the process. In this paper I address two interrelated questions: What was the moral meaning of the abolition of torture? And: What was the significance of Beccaria’s little treatise in the process of abolition? I will want to claim that Beccaria’s work, more than any other, establishes the moral meaning of ethical and political modernity.
Location:

6 E 16 St Room 1103

Admission:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Official Website: http://www.newschool.edu/NSSR/eventsList.aspx?id=83215&DeptFilter=NSSR+Philosophy