1st Edition

Criminological Theory Assessing Philosophical Assumptions

By Anthony Walsh Copyright 2014
238 Pages
by Routledge

238 Pages
by Routledge

238 Pages
by Routledge

Criminologists can benefit from questioning the underlying assumptions upon which they rest their work. Philosophy has the ability to clarify our thoughts, inform us of why we think about things the way we do, solve contradictions in our thinking we never knew existed, and even dissolve some dichotomies we thought were cast in stone. One of those dichotomies is free will vs. determinism.... Read more
Chapter 1: The Usefulness of Philosophy in Criminology Chapter 2: Social Constructionism Versus Science in Criminology Chapter 3: Relativism, Rationalism, Empiricism, and Paradigm Shifts Chapter 4: Essentialism and Reductionism: Enemies or Friends? Chapter 5: What is Real and How Do We Know? Chapter 6: Materialism and Idealism: Structure versus Culture Chapter 7: Conflict and Cooperation; Alienation and Equality Chapter 8: Rationality and Emotion Chapter 9: Right and Wrong: Conscience Chapter 10: The Science Wars and Ideology in Criminology Chapter 11: Ideology and Causation Chapter 12: The Philosophy and Science of Human Nature Chapter 13: Feminist Criminology and Contending Metaphysics Chapter 14: Origins of the Intuition of Justice Chapter 15: Punishment: Justifications and its Role in the Evolution of Justice

Biography

Anthony Walsh received his Ph.D. in criminology from Bowling Green State University in 1983. He worked as a marine, merchant seaman, police officer, and probation officer before entering academia at the age of 44. He teaches criminology, statistics, philosophy of law, and correctional assessment and case management at Boise State University. He is widely published, having authored or coauthored 33 books and more than 100 articles on criminology and biosocial aspects of crime.