Abstract

I have spent most of my academic career writing on the philosophy of punishment and related issues such as mercy and forgiveness. So when I was asked to contribute an essay to a volume on humility, I was surprised at being asked and unsure that I could bring to bear my own scholarly expertise and focus to the topic. After some reflection, however, I came to think that many of the things that I find morally deplorable about America’s so-called system of criminal justice (Murphy, 2014) can in part be explained by a lack of humility, and so I was drawn to considering humility in more depth and in a context not limited in scope to criminal law.