IAPE Fall Lecture: Overcriminalisation and Dishonesty

Abstract: The paper begins with a presentation of one way in which the distinction between civil and criminal justice can be drawn. This distinction relies on a particular reading of Kant’s Universal Principle of Right, in the  Metaphysics of Morals . The paper next considers the vexed issue of the appropriate standard for testing dishonesty and the risk of overcriminalisation that an inappropriate standard might bring about. I will make reference particularly to  Ghosh ,  Hayes  and  Ivey . In the final part of the paper, I will draw some lessons for what an appropriate test of dishonesty should be, given the particular Kantian distinction between civil and criminal justice presented at the beginning of the paper.

Sorin Baiasu is Professor of Philosophy at Keele University and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford University. Hi publications include:  Kant and Sartre: Re-discovering Critical Ethics  (Palgrave Macmillan 2011),  Kant on Practical Justification: Interpretive Essays  (edited with Mark Timmons, OUP 2013),  Sincerity in Politics and International Relations  (edited with Sylvie Loriaux, Routledge 2017) and  Kantian Citizenship: Grounds, Standards and Global Implications  (edited with Mark Timmons, Routledge 2025 forthcoming). His work has been financially supported by the British Academy, the European Commission and the European Research Council. This year, he has been awarded a European Research Council Advanced Grant on “Kantian Justice: A Desert-sensitive Responsibility-enhancing Theory”.