The Neurobiology of Altruistic Punishment: A Moral Assessment of its Social Utility

Abstract

This article discusses recent studies on social norm enforcement and altruistic punishment in experimental economics and neuroeconomics. It focuses on the neurobiological explanation of the psychological motivational causes behind punishment, and defends the view that the moral assessment of punishment behavior requires external reasoning about whether the punitive act is governed by a moral concern for the other, or by an excessive and immoral demand to override the other’s individual rights. Hence, the moral assessment of punishment centers on the distinction of (a) punishment as a means of establishing justice and (b) punishment as an excess of sheer violence. As a paradigm case for the real importance of this distinction the article refers to the torture scandal detected in the American prison of Abu Ghraib/Iraq.