ABSTRACT
In 'Equity and Mercy' Martha Nussbaum explores the tension and argues in favour of merciful judgement and against standard retributive and deterrence models of judgement and punishment. Lived stories are, minimally, causal chains. Indeed, a relatively exhaustive biography is one that explains how circumstances, weaknesses, strengths, goals, and so on and so forth move individuals in particular directions. A retributive ethic is typically, but not exclusively, accompanied by a libertarian account of free will where ruffians are conceived of as capable, in actuality, of having done otherwise at a given moment in time, but who choose the crooked path of evil instead. This is the thesis that free will is compatible with determinism, but it is agnostic with regard to any specific version of determinism. Two of the most influential attempts to fit accountability, involving retribution, within a compatibilist framework have been carried out by Peter F. Strawson and Frankfurt.
