Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2020-21/Truth in Punishment and The Panopticon

This chapter explores how philosophy assesses and conflicts with conceptions of truth in disciplines relating to crime and punishment. Postmodernist thought, specifically critical philosophy, conflicts with criminology by critiquing its methodology and conception of truth. Postmodernism also takes a critical approach towards utilitarianism, as seen through its views on the Panopticon prison scheme, thus creating a disciplinary divide with economics.

= Criminology and Critical Philosophy on Punishment =

Criminology applies the scientific method to explain “interactions of processes in law-making, lawbreaking, and the reactions of society to these processes”. It takes a positivist approach to knowledge when analyzing issues of crime and punishment. There is, however, some dissonance within criminology, as its early development by sociologists means it is greatly influenced by sociological thought. While criminologists commit to the use of the scientific method and believe there is consensus on epistemology, views of truth in the discipline have historical associations to sociological writings and methodology.

Major criticism has been filed against criminology’s approach to punishment by critical philosophers. In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Foucault takes a constructivist approach to criminal law and justice. He argues that criminology is not grounded in scientific truths but is a result of social forces. He illustrates this by underlining how law's incorporation of criminal psychiatry in the nineteenth century was informed by a shift in focus from ‘crime to criminal’, and new rationality about how crime may be inherent. Such rationality demanded unique forms of scientific knowledge to justify the characterization of criminals and led to truth formation in the subject. This truism about ‘individual offenders’ still informs criminology today.

Foucault instead supported the analysis of power dynamics behind institutional conceptions of truth. Discipline and Punish thus provided an analysis of the rationale behind methods of ‘discipline’. One critique was of the underlying assumption of homo criminalis, or criminal man. Prisoners, who would otherwise be considered rational actors (homo economicus) in social sciences such as economics, are assumed in criminology to be homo criminalis—someone who is to be treated scientifically and distinct from non-offenders. Foucault suggests this assumption stems from historical methods of information gathering by prisons in the nineteenth century to theorize reasons for offenses. As such, criminology and one of its key assumptions were informed by available academic resources and historical findings rather than a universal or positivist truth.

While criminologists have adopted ideas about truth from critical philosophy, it has generally been limited to superficial changes to existing academic concepts and structures. Habits of sociological thinking have made it difficult for criminologists to fully appreciate and reflect on Foucault’s criticisms, and the pursuit for ideas with fixed meanings has given rise to positivist criticism of Foucault’s work as ‘lacking in rigor and being too ambiguous’, largely due to his intentional use of constructivist ideas.

= Economics versus Postmodern Philosophy on The Panopticon = Due to its position as a discipline where qualities of epistemological methods are discussed, philosophy lacks a unifying theory of truth, though individual philosophical theories do maintain distinct conceptions of truth. Schools of philosophy hold central dogmas that form the foundation for their ideas. Utilitarianism, as such, holds its central dogma—that the most moral action is one that maximizes utility—as an absolute truth.

Much like utilitarianism, a base assumption of absolutes is required when assessing positive classical economics. Frank H. Knight's 1940 publication, "What is Truth" in Economics?, categorizes knowledge in economics as that of human tendencies rather than that which can be understood through direct observation and "tests". Knight reflects the view of classical economists as he maintains the assumptions of people as rational actors, or those who will always act in order to maximize their own happiness with all available information, and that there exists an "ideal" apportionment of resources in any given circumstance.



This attempted "ideal" allocation is illustrated in Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon. Originally, the Panopticon was an architectural plan for a prison: a circular building positioning the inmates’ cells around a central surveillance tower. Inmates do not know when they are being watched, so they therefore must act as if under observation at all times. The Panopticon can be seen as a real-world application of Bentham’s utilitarian philosophy, where he defines utility as the property of producing “benefit”, or preventing "pain or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered”. In the relevant economic context, Bentham posited that utility was defined as a "rational management that ‘lightens’ public expenditure".

In order to understand the Panopticon as a utilitarian prison scheme, it is important to view it through the lens of growing dissatisfaction with the prevalence of capital punishment under the criminal justice system of Bentham’s time. Bentham viewed his system as an improvement over the former in all aspects, stating that his simple architectural idea improved morals, health, industry, and the economy.

Bentham proposed a two-tiered system of efficient management fueled by monopolistic competition. The construction of the Panopticon would be the product of entrepreneurial contractors jockeying for the building contract, required to offer reasonable terms of construction so as to remain competitive in the market. Similarly, market forces of supply and demand allowed for a more efficient implementation of discipline in that "the punishment [of the convict], preventing his carrying the work to another market, subjects him to a monopoly, which the contractor makes as much of as he can (Bentham 1838)".

Despite a system poised for efficiency, numerous criticisms have been levied against the Panopticon. Most famously, in Discipline and Punish, Foucault uses the Panopticon as a metaphor to critique discipline under the modern state system. Although not a direct critique of Bentham’s prison design, the metaphor's influence led to widespread criticism of the concept, which developed a general misunderstanding of the Panopticon and Bentham's work as a whole. Primarily, the Panopticon has existed in modern consciousness solely in terms of Foucault’s description of panopticism as a form of power based on omnipresent surveillance. Due to Foucault's projection of governmental systems on the Panopticon, Bentham’s ideas have increasingly been perceived as authoritarian and pro-punishment. This interpretation conflicts with Bentham’s views in actuality: utilitarianism’s aim to maximise happiness suggests he viewed punishment as immoral except when preventing further unhappiness.

This misunderstanding hinges on conflicting attitudes to truth in morality and societal benefit. As mentioned, Bentham holds as an absolute truth that the most moral action is that which maximises happiness and minimises unhappiness, supporting his Panopticon through its economic benefit, efficiency and internalisation of discipline. Oppositely, the conception of truth by many postmodernist philosophers, including Foucault, is relativist and constructivist. Foucault posits that truth is socially constructed, specifically by power dynamics. By extension, according to social constructivism an action's moral worth is not set - it is dependent on the society in which it is contextualised. This difference in conceptions of truth means the morality of the Panopticon is debatable: utilitarians like Bentham see the plan as entirely morally justifiable, but later postmodern thinkers like Foucault question this idea.