Punishment is designed to maximize apparent suffering while minimizing real pain.
Evidence
Bentham’s main concern here is in achieving the greatest apparent suffering with the least real suffering, that is, achieving the greatest effect of the punishment on others with the least inflicted pain. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 15
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the spectacle dimension of Bentham’s punishment — the engineered appearance is the essence.
- XREF: connects to: Apparent punishment outweighs real suffering whenever the innocent outnumber the punished. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 14; Penalty operates through the idea of pain, not pain itself — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 155; Feigned punishment could deter crime without real suffering — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 28 (+4 more)
Related
- Penalty operates through the idea of pain, not pain itself (similarity 0.93)
- Apparent punishment outweighs real suffering whenever the innocent outnumber the punished. (similarity 0.87)
- Feigned punishment could deter crime without real suffering (similarity 0.86)
- Punishment’s deterrent power migrated from visible spectacle to certainty of apprehension (similarity 0.84)
- Penal reform aimed to increase punishment’s effects while lowering its costs. (similarity 0.83)
- Staged ceremony can substitute for added real punishment to deter others. (similarity 0.83)
- Punishment’s severity must aim at future prevention, not past harm (similarity 0.82)
- Punishment deters when its expected cost merely exceeds crime’s benefit (similarity 0.82)
- Modern punishment targets the soul rather than the body (similarity 0.79)
- The real target of punishment is potential offenders, not the convict himself (similarity 0.79)
- The sovereign executed regicides with symbolic maximal torture (similarity 0.78)
- The reformed penalty shifted its target from the body to subtler suffering (similarity 0.78)
- Painless execution drugs are the logical terminus of non-corporal penality (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Penalty operates through the idea of pain, not pain itself
#corroborates(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 155 - The sovereign executed regicides with symbolic maximal torture
#exemplifies(0.82) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 108 - Subtler punishment masked sovereign power rather than making it more humane
#corroborates(0.80) - Penal reform aimed to increase punishment’s effects while lowering its costs.
#expands(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 135 - Feigned punishment could deter crime without real suffering
#expands(0.75) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 28