Capital punishment is a forceful moral issue that is frequently overlooked. This is possibly due to the reverence many have toward the rule of law or a passive acceptance of the status quo. In this thesis I will begin with a discussion of context to the topic of the death penalty in order to address potential biases. Then I examine not only the ethical merit of the death penalty but the foundational justifications for a system of criminal justice to show that the special relationship between the state and its citizens does not lend itself to or allow for the instantiation of the death penalty. I look first to several theories of punishment selecting the most viable theory in order to make the most plausible case in favor of the death penalty. From there I establish that there is some intuitive merit to the notion that the vicious deserve unhappiness and see how far that intuition might extend. In this section I examine the merits and demerits of Kantian retributivism in order to address the many intricate ethical and political issues involved in the death penalty debate. I’ve chosen the Kantian ethical framework because of the nuance with which many of the problems of retribution are solved. Kant insets the enlightenment principles into his moral framework and provides reasoned explanations for there insistence, as such his work provides a background from which I will work through details and resolve contradictions. I will then make an argument for the moral personhood of the state and sketch the special relationship it has to its citizens. Finally I will offer a system that incorporates the ideas developed in the previous sections and gives a practical answer to the death penalty debate. It is my ultimate argument that there is no absolute ban on the death penalty, possibly even some intuitive merit to the scheme, but ultimately many moral limitations on its implementation.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:37:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 NataliaBD_DISSERT.pdf: 520010 bytes, checksum: 78f395f9cd75c470203c0d6fd6248c90 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-28 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Human cooperation is a hallmark of this species due to its wide extension to genetically unrelated individuals and complex division of labor. It is considered an evolutionary puzzle, because the theory of evolution by natural selection predicts that self-interested individuals tend to be selected. Different theories have been proposed to explain the evolution of cooperation, which the most important are kin selection and reciprocal altruism. Considering the evolutionary continuity between species, humans and other primates have several common traits that help to promote cooperation between individuals of these species. Two features, however, seem to be particularly humans: inequality aversion and preferences in relation to others. Although human cooperation is not necessarily related to morality, cooperative traits are the basis for moral tendencies. The development of human morality is a combination of early prosocial tendencies, cooperative skills displayed at different ages, social learning and cultural transmission of norms. The social stimulus seems to be particularly important in promoting cooperative behavior in children and adults. In order to study the influence of social stimuli, as verbal feedback, on children cooperation, a study was conducted with children in a public goods game. 407 children from public schools in Natal / RN, divided into 21 groups, between six and nine years, participated in eight rounds of this game. After each round, seven groups received praise for larger donations, seven groups have been criticized by smaller donations, and the other seven received no comment. Children cooperated more when criticized, without significant differences between sexes, although young children have cooperated more negative than older children. The results are likely related to the anticipation and avoidance of punishment associated with the feedback (although this did not occur), and greater sensitivity to the authority in younger children. Nevertheless, the cooperation decreased in all groups until the last day of play. The results suggest an early sensitivity to moral punishment, whose role in the maintenance of social relations must have been important in the evolution of cooperation in humans / A coopera??o humana ? um tra?o distintivo da esp?cie, devido ? sua ampla extens?o ? n?o aparentados e elaborada divis?o do trabalho. ? considerada um quebra-cabe?a evolucionista, tendo em vista que a teoria da evolu??o por sele??o natural prev? que indiv?duos auto-interessados tendem a ser selecionados. Diferentes teorias foram propostas para explicar a evolu??o da coopera??o, sendo as mais importantes a sele??o de parentesco e o altru?smo rec?proco. Considerando a continuidade evolutiva entre esp?cies, seres humanos e outros primatas possuem v?rios tra?os em comum que ajudam a promover a coopera??o entre indiv?duos dessas esp?cies. Duas caracter?sticas, no entanto, parecem ser particularmente humanos: a avers?o ? desigualdade e as prefer?ncias em rela??o aos outros. Embora a coopera??o humana n?o necessariamente esteja relacionada ? moralidade, tra?os cooperativos servem de base para tend?ncias morais. O desenvolvimento da moralidade humana resulta da combina??o de tend?ncias pr?-sociais precoces, de habilidades cooperativas exibidas em diferentes idades, de aprendizagem social e transmiss?o cultural de normas. O est?mulo social parece ser particularmente importante na promo??o de comportamentos cooperativos em crian?as e adultos. Tendo como objetivo estudar a influ?ncia do est?mulo social, sob a foma de feedback verbal sobre a coopera??o infantil, foi realizado um estudo com crian?as em um jogo de bens p?blicos. 407 crian?as de escolas p?blicas de Natal/RN, divididas em 21 grupos, entre seis e nove anos, participaram de oito partidas desse jogo. Ao fim de cada partida, sete grupos receberam elogios pelas doa??es maiores, sete grupos foram criticados pelas doa??es menores, e os outros sete n?o receberam nenhum coment?rio. Crian?as cooperaram mais em situa??es de cr?tica, sem diferen?as significativas entre sexo, embora crian?as mais jovens tenham cooperado mais em feedback negativo do que as crian?as mais velhas. Os resultados provavelmente est?o relacionados ? expectativa e ? esquiva de puni??o associada ao feedback (embora esta n?o ocorresse), e ? maior sensibilidade ? autoridade em crian?as mais jovens. Apesar disso, a coopera??o diminuiu em todos os grupos at? o ?ltimo dia de jogo. Os resultados apontam para uma sensibilidade precoce ? puni??o moral, cujo papel na manuten??o das rela??es sociais deve ter sido importante na evolu??o da coopera??o na esp?cie humana