Blame, Punishment, and Health

How should our practices of blame and punishment take into account the mental and physical conditions of those we blame and punish? Philosophers working on moral responsibility have taken up this question squarely, prompting conversations about addiction, immaturity, and the like. But what about the blame and punishment we impose on responsible wrongdoers? How does our health--both physical and mental--affect those practices? For example:  Should we abandon blame if the wrongdoer develops severe dementia? Should punishing young offenders take into account the limited window of reproductive viability? What are we to make of the likely health effects of administrative segregation, constrained exercise, or widespread communicable illnesses? Rutgers University-Camden will host a pre-read workshop on theoretical and applied questions like these in April 2019, with the essays from this workshop to be considered for a peer-reviewed, special issue of Public Affairs Quarterly. The Editor of Public Affairs Quarterly, David Boonin, will attend the workshop and will be available to give feedback on all of the papers.

We welcome abstracts of up to 1,000 words for the pre-read workshop. The abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review and should be in either Microsoft Word or PDF format. We especially welcome submissions from members of underrepresented populations within philosophy.  Send abstracts to [email protected].

This workshop is sponsored by funds from the Henry Rutgers Term Chair for Ethics, Health, and Society. Food and lodging will be paid for, and domestic travel expenses will be reimbursed. (International travelers will be reimbursed up to a domestic equivalent.)

Abstracts are due November 3, 2018. Decisions will be made by the beginning of December 2018. Full papers of between 4,000 and 10,000 words will be due February 1, 2019, and the workshop will be held at Rutgers University-Camden on April 5, 2019.

Questions can be directed to Craig Agule ([email protected]) or Eric Chwang ([email protected]).