Abstract

In this article I compare the theories of legal punishment found in Kant’s and Hegel’s philosophy of right. The thesis I defend is that, at least in this subject matter, the positions of Kant and Hegel should not be read as standing in direct opposition, but rather as belonging to the family of retributivist penal theo-ries. The comparative analysis I put forward aims to shed light both on structural aspects of their philosophy of right as a whole and on some of their customary strategies of judicial-philosoph-ical justification. The discussion hereby presented will show, however, some limitations of both theories and broadly sketch, as a systematic solution to such difficulties, a reading in which Kant’s and Hegel’s philosophical conceptions of legal punish-ment are deemed as complementary ones.