The Prison Before the Panopticon

Join Zephyr Wednesday, 9 October 6:00–8:00pm for an evening salon with Jacob Abolafia (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) about philosophical treatments of incarceration from Greek antiquity to modernity and their relevance to our present situation.

These philosophical treatments form the subject of Jacob's new book, The Prison Before the Panopticon: Incarceration in Ancient and Modern Political Philosophy. Although the prison as we know it is a modern institution dating from the Enlightenment, debates over imprisonment, Jacob shows, are as old as Western political philosophy itself. These debates have played an important role in political philosophy from Desmothenes and Plato to Hobbes and Bentham and have centered around two major themes: how to justify imprisonment in light of political and theoretical commitments to freedom and equality and how imprisonment can fulfill the promise of rehabilitation. Jacob demonstrates a surprisingly deep connection between the ancient debates on these questions and modern theories of crime and punishment.

Dinner will be provided to participants. Please RSVP so that Zephyr can plan accordingly.

About the Speaker

Jacob Abolafia is senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a scholar of social and political philosphy and political theorist, writing on political and legal theory and their history. His ongoing research and teaching interests include social and political philosophy from early modernity through the present day, Jewish and Islamic political thought, and the intersection of social and political/legal theory, as well as the pedagogy of civics and civic education.

Eligibility

This event is open to the general public.