Ján Kollár’s Thoughts on Capital Punishment

This article analyses and assesses the arguments opposing capital punishment put forward by Ján Kollár (1793–1852), a representative of Central European Evangelical/Lutheran Enlightenment rationalism, using the definition of criminal practice in Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century as the ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Christian ethics
Main Author: Gluchman, Vasil (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2021
In: Studies in Christian ethics
RelBib Classification:KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KDD Protestant Church
NCA Ethics
VA Philosophy
XA Law
Further subjects:B Capital Punishment
B Cesare Beccaria
B Habsburg Monarchy
B Michel Foucault
B Enlightenment
B Ján Kollár
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This article analyses and assesses the arguments opposing capital punishment put forward by Ján Kollár (1793–1852), a representative of Central European Evangelical/Lutheran Enlightenment rationalism, using the definition of criminal practice in Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century as the basis. Consequently, the author pays attention to the movement for reform in criminal law and practices, initiated in Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century by Cesare Beccaria, including his argumentation against capital punishment. In this context, the author presents and investigates 13 arguments against capital punishment defined by Kollár in his 1815 diary. The author came to the conclusion that Kollár, in his arguments against capital punishment, followed, to a certain extent, the views of Beccaria and eighteenth -century adherents of the French Enlightenment; however, Kollár’s actual argumentation is rationalistically based on ethical values of humanity and justice with significant space also dedicated to utilitarian aspects of rejecting capital punishment adopted from reformists of criminal law.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946820965329