The Policing Animal: Towards a Critique of Punitive Humanism

Abstract: This article uncovers, analyzes, and critiques a common yet under-examined trend in the history of Western political thought: punitive humanism, the belief that human beings are "naturally" punitive. Engaging with different iterations of punitive humanist thought in the writings of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Jeremy Bentham, I argue that this belief has wide-ranging implications, and constitutes a particular challenge to abolitionist theory and practice. I use the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly his conceptualization of ressentiment , to elaborate a critique of punitive humanism, one which resonates with and provides valuable theoretical material for contemporary abolitionist thought.