ABSTRACT
A notion of “public” has been transmitted to us through the well-known philosopheme posed first by Francois-René Chateaubriand, then by Honoré de Balzac, and then again by Karl Polanyi later. It goes: we are given a magic gift by which, through simply pressing a button, every wish we utter will be immediately granted, but at a price; every time we press the button, one Chinese person will die. How many people would refrain from pushing that magic button? This notion of “public” incorporates an obligation to assume responsibility for the lives of others, protect society as a whole and, as Immanuel Kant put it, embrace a form of world patriotism. This chapter will be set off by explaining how difficult it is for criminology as an academic discipline to accept such an obligation. Three sets of difficulties are highlighted: first, those experienced by criminologists; second, those suffered by the public; and third, those challenging public action and social movements.
