Moral Science, Social Science, and the Idea of Justice (From Crime and Punishment: Issues in Criminal Justice, P 15-40, 1989, Fred E Baumann and Kenneth M Jensen, eds. -- See NC-122184)

• NCJ Number: 122186
• Author(s): D N Robinson
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: University of Virginia Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article argues that moral science, not social science, shapes and refines the institution of justice.

Abstract

The evolution of jurisprudential theories is traced, beginning with pre-Hellenic Greek culture and including the views of Socrates, radical determinists, logical positivists, legal positivists, and utilitarians. The connection between law and morals is clear in a just State, and it can be argued that justice is shaped when law relies on moral reasoning. Social science, on the other hand, is ineffective in shaping justice, for its premises are not compatible with the premises of justice. Justice is tied to the concept of moral autonomy, and the premises of law are moral premises. When the institution of justice is refined, moral science, not social science, is responsible. 5 footnotes.