The use of sanctions is a commonplace and it is usually associated with an expectation to increase the strength of a rule's normative force. Some experiments confirm this intuition and indicate that punishments make people cooperate more. Philosophers, however, debate without consensus on what should be the purpose of punishment. Despite the normative discussion, psychological studies show that ordinary people tend to make retributivist judgments. Moreover, psychology has pointed out some asymmetries in punitive behavior, such as the difference in people's standpoints when projecting norms and when they must apply the same norms; the influence of moral judgments in assigning intentionality in punitive judgments; and the perplexities involving punishment of accidents. The philosopher of law should aim at achieving an integrative view of the different information concerning punishment both to describe law more adequately and to construct a viable normative theory of law.
Sanction; Punishment; Philosophy; Psychology; Law