Joel Feinberg

Joel Feinberg (born October 19, 1926 in Detroit , Michigan , † March 29, 2004 in Tucson ) was an American philosopher .

Feinberg studied at the University of Michigan and wrote his dissertation on the philosophy of Ralph Barton Perry under Charles L. Stevenson . He held teaching positions at Brown University , Princeton University , University of California , Rockefeller University and, until his retirement in 1994, at the University of Arizona . In 1976 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Feinberg's field of activity focused on practical philosophy , including ethics , social philosophy and legal philosophy . He represented moderate liberalism . Some of his considerations ("Legal Paternalism", In: Rights, Justice, and the Bounds of Liberty see literature ), while still remaining within the liberal framework, sometimes go beyond this and also include other legal bases than the so-called " harm principle ".

He discusses this issue in detail in his four-volume work The Moral Limits of Criminal Law . It was published between 1984 and 1988 and each volume deals with a group of problems relating to the justification or foundation of state legal acts. The first volume ( Harm to Others , The Damage to Others ) is the basis for his liberal legal attitude and distinguishes damage that can be inflicted on others from other forms of influencing other people. The aforementioned harm principle is the main reason for state legislation, because the state is seen as the guarantor of the integrity of its citizens. In the three following volumes, Feinberg explores the possibility of state intervention in the event of non-harmful behavior. Consequently, the second volume is called Offense to Others ( insulting others, or more precisely: acting morally aggressive but not harmful to third parties) and the fourth volume is called Harmless Wrongdoing (harmless moral misconduct) . The third volume, Harm to Self (self-harm), discusses to what extent the state has the right to prevent actions or to intervene when people harm themselves - prominently suicide.

His liberal position is very well thought out and tries to do justice to actual legislation as well as largely intuitive assessments of ethical problems. Therefore he does not defend radical liberalism, but allows public insults, denunciation, and slander as a basis for state intervention. His position influenced much of the debate about liberalism, paternalism and foundations of law in the USA in the second half of the 20th century. Through his extensive teaching, some of his students carry his ideas forward in their own work in the field of practical philosophy.

Fonts

• Doing and Deserving: Essays in the Theory of Responsibility . Princeton: Princeton University Press 1970.
• " The Rights of Animals and Future Generations ". In: Philosophy and Environmental Crisis . Ed. William Blackstone. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press 1974. ISBN 0-8203-0343-7 .
• Rights, Justice, and the Bounds of Liberty: Essays in Social Philosophy . Princeton: Princeton University Press 1980.
• The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. Vol. 1, Harm to Others . New York: Oxford University Press 1984.
• The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. Vol. 2, Offense to Others . New York: Oxford University Press 1985.
• The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. Vol. 3, Harm to Self . New York: Oxford University Press 1986.
• The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law. Vol. 4, Harmless Wrongdoing . New York: Oxford University Press 1988.
• Freedom and Fulfillment: Philosophical Essays . Princeton: Princeton University Press 1992.
• Problems at the Roots of Law: Essays in Legal and Political Theory . Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003.