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WORK TITLE: Punishment and the history of political philosophy
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PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1980
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CITY: Boston
STATE: MA
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http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/files/2157636
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1980.
EDUCATION:University of Toronto, B.Sc. (with honors), 2004; University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D., 2010.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Political scientist, public speaker, and educator. Baylor University, visiting lecturer, 2009; Claremont McKenna College, Henry Salvatori Center, visiting scholar, 2010-11; Boston College, Thomas W. Smith Visiting Assistant Professor, 2011-12. Presenter at academic conferences and meetings.
AWARDS:J.P. Dixon Award for Academic Achievement, 2003, and J. Michael Kyne Award in Political Science, 2004, both University of Toronto; Preemptive Recruitment Fellowship, 2004-05, and Donors Trust Foundation Award, 2009, both University of Texas at Austin.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including the Review of Politics and Journal of Politics.
SIDELIGHTS
Arthur Shuster is a political scientist and public speaker. He was the Thomas W. Smith Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston College in 2011 and 2012, and he has also been a visiting lecturer at Baylor University and a visiting scholar at the Henry Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College. He studies classical and Socratic thought, early modern political thought, twentieth-century German thought, American political thought, and American constitutional theory. Shuster holds a B.Sc. (with honors) in human biology from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in government from the University of Texas at Austin.
In Punishment and the History of Political Philosophy: From Classical Republicanism to the Crisis of Modern Criminal Justice, Shuster delivers a dense philosophical analysis that covers a vast terrain” in a relatively short volume that comprises only 180 pages, noted S.E. Blankenship, writing in the journal Choice. Shuster recognizes that the philosophy of contemporary times does not put forth a sufficient theory of punishment or related areas of criminal justice and state retribution. What theories there are lack a satisfactory means of addressing basic moral concerns about incarceration, capital punishment, and other means of punitive justice. With the need for an understanding of justice looming over the current American landscape, where prison populations are at an all-time high and interactions between the police and member of the public—especially minority populations—are increasingly tense, Shuster acknowledges that a better fundamental understanding of punishment is needed.
In his book, according to Blankenship, Shuster “does yeoman’s work in critically evaluating the political philosophies” of a number of well-known philosophers and thinkers who addressed the topic of punishment, including Plato, Immanuel Kant, Michel Foucault, Thomas Hobbes, Montesquieu, and Cesare Beccaria. He provides an interpretation of some of these writers’ most important texts and conclusions. The role of punishment as a deterrent to crime or antisocial behavior is discussed in detail, although some of the philosophers (specifically Hobbes, Montesquieu, and Beccaria) demonstrate a lack of philosophical justification for using punishment to deter other behavior.
Kant, in Shuster’s interpretation, puts forth a substantial argument for the use of punishment as retribution. He also assesses Foucault’s work and uses it as the basis of his description of the crisis currently facing the American justice system. Blankenship concluded that it is not Shuster’s goal to present a means of resolution to the crisis. Instead, Shuster seeks to bring clarity to the terms of the debate surrounding punishment and justice, in an attempt to provide a well-articulated common ground for others to address the issue and find what needs to be done. The author, according to Megan Travers and Brandon Dulisse in an online review for Criminal Law and Criminal Justic Books, offers an “intriguing interpretation of historical philosophical texts and their potential application to the issues faced today in the modern criminal justice system.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice, October, 2016, S.E. Blankenship, review of Punishment and the History of Political Philosophy: From Classical Republicanism to the Crisis of Modern Criminal Justice, p. 289.
ONLINE
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books, http://clcjbooks.rutgers.edu/ (July 1, 2017), Megan Traves and Brandon Dulisse, review of Punishment and the History of Political Philosophy.
University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts Website, http://liberalarts.utexas.edu (September 4, 2017), curriculum vitae of Arthur Shuster.*
Updated: 5/16/20121Arthur ShusterBoston CollegeDepartment of Political Science201 McGuinn HallBoston, MA 02467-3807shuster.arthur@gmail.com909-973-1636Education2010Ph.D. in Government, University of Texas at Austin.Dissertation: “Ancient and Modern Approaches to the Question of Punishment: Hobbes, Kant,and Plato.” Committee: Thomas Pangle (chair), Russell Muirhead, Lorraine Pangle, Devin Stauffer, Jeffrey Tulis, Robert J. Hankinson.2004B.Sc. (honors) in Human Biology, University of Toronto.Academic Appointments2011-12 Thomas W. Smith Visiting Assistant Professor, Boston College2010-11 Visiting Scholar, Henry Salvatori Center,Claremont McKenna College.2009Visiting Lecturer (fall), Baylor University.Articles 2011“Kant on the Role of the Retributive Outlookin Moral and Political Life,” forthcomingin The Review of Politics(summer).Reprinted inThe Philosophy of Punishment and the History of Political Thought, ed. Peter Koritansky(University of Missouri Press),2011.BookPunishment in the History of Political Thought: From Classical Republicanism to the Crisis of Modern Criminal Justice. Under contract with the University of Toronto Press.
Arthur ShusterCurriculum Vitae2Book Reviews2012Review of The Concept of Justice: Is Social Justice Just?by Thomas Patrick Burke, The Journal of Politics(forthcoming).Works in Progress“Reconstituting Politics:‘Deliberative Democracy’and the Revival of Aristotelian Rhetoric”(article). An examination of some of the greatest examples of democratic rhetoric (from Lincoln and Pericles) in light of Aristotle’s defense of political rhetoric. “Mixed Government”(article).Has undergone review at APSR and is currently being preparedfor submissionto Journal of Politics.Public Lectures2012“The Complicated Status of Trans-political Goods in Plato’s Laws.” Boston College (March).2011“Giving Injustice Its Due? The Crisis of Modern Criminal Justice.”Boston College(December).Conference Participation2012Presenter, “Dissipating Responsibility: Foucault and Arendt.” Southern Political Science Association annual meeting.2011Presenter, “Is Democratic Discourse Best When It Is Deliberative?” American Political Science Association annual meeting.2011Presenter, “The ‘Socratic’ Republicanism of the Laws: Plato’s Practical Political Teaching.” Liberty Fund Conference:Park City, Utah (June).2011Session Chair, “Kant on Morality and Religion.” Claremont McKenna College.2011Presenter, “The Promise of Autonomous Democratic Discourse in Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Book I.”Colloque International Laboratoire ERMES, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis: “La rhétorique démocratique en temps de crise.”2010Presenter, “On the Challenge of Revelation in Plato’s LawsI.” Northeastern Political
Arthur ShusterCurriculum Vitae3Science Associationannual meeting.2010Discussant, “The Ends of Legislation in Plato’s Laws”(panel).Northeastern Political Science Associationannual meeting.2010Participant, Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History, Summer Institute:Chicago, Illinois.2010Presenter, “How Hobbes Read Aristotle’s Rhetoric.” Midwest Political Science Associationannual meeting (April)and Southwestern Political Science Associationannual meeting(March).2008Presenter, “Kant on the Problem of Punishment.” Northeastern Political Science Associationannual meeting.2006Presenter, “Tensions Between Retributive Justice and Republicanism in Xenophon’s Cyropaidea.” Northeastern Political Science Associationannual meeting.Teaching Experience2012Section Instructor, “How to Rule the World,” Boston College2012Instructor, graduate reading course on Plato’s Laws, Boston College2011Instructor, undergraduate reading group on Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Boston College2011Course Instructor, “Introduction to Political Philosophy,” Claremont McKenna College. 2009Course Instructor, “American Constitutional Development,” Baylor University.2006Supplementary Instructor, “Constitutional Debates at the Founding,” University of Texas at Austin.2006Guest Lecturer, “Plato’s Gorgias,” University of Texas at Austin2005-10 Teaching Assistant (various courses), University of Texas at AustinAwardsand Honors
Arthur ShusterCurriculum Vitae42010Institute of Humane Studies Fellowship, finalist.2009DonorsTrust Foundation Award ($5,500), University of Texas at Austin.2004-5 Pre-emptive Recruitment Fellowship ($17,000), University of Texas at Austin.2004J. Michael Kyne Award in Political Science, University of Toronto.2003,J. P. Dixon Awardfor Academic Achievement, University of Toronto.2000Fields of Interest and TrainingClassical (especially Socratic) political thought; early modern political thought; German idealism; twentieth century German thought; American political thought; American constitutional theory; political themes in Greek tragedy.LanguagesFrench(reading and fluency); Ancient Greek(reading); Russian (reading and fluency)
Shuster, Arthur. Punishment and the history of political philosophy: from classical republicanism to the crisis of modern criminal justice
S.E. Blankenship
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 54.2 (Oct. 2016): p289.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
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Shuster, Arthur. Punishment and the history of political philosophy: from classical republicanism to the crisis of modern criminal justice. Toronto, 2016. 180p bibl afp ISBN 9781442647282 cloth, $50.00; ISBN 9781442667709, $50.00
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In only 180 pages, Shuster (Univ. of Texas at Austin) delivers a dense philosophical analysis that covers a vast terrain. Those who study political philosophy and history may find that his book leaves unexamined some critical avenues in the political history of penology, in particular the historical influences that shaped the reformist efforts of 18th-century political philosophers who explored the realm of punishment in society. That being said, Shuster does yeoman's work in critically evaluating the political philosophies of Plato, Hobbes, Montesquieu, Beccaria, Kant, and Foucault in an attempt to address the problems plaguing the modern criminal justice system in the US. Those that have been most influential on this system (from a philosophical standpoint)--Hobbes, Montesquieu, and Beccaria--turn out to be the most wanting in terms of the philosophical justification for punishment, i.e., deterrence. Retribution as articulated by Kant, meanwhile, is bolstered by Shusters analysis. Foucault's Discipline and Punish is used to articulate the crisis in the system. Shuster does not aim at resolution but to "clarify[y] the terms of the debate," which is a welcome step in the right direction. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.--S. E. Blankenship, Lake Erie College
Blankenship, S.E.