The presented work analyzes the antinomy of the theory of punishment: the relationship between the principles of fair retribution (retributivism) and social benefit (utilitarianism). The relevance of the topic is determined both by its theoretical significance and by the practical challenges facing contemporary legal policy, which balances between the populist demand for severity and scientifically based goals of resocialization. The article reconstructs the genealogy of the problem of punishment, demonstrating its internal contradictions. The analysis begins with the archaic principle of talion, where retribution was sacred, and moves on to the humanistic turn of the Enlightenment, which shifted the emphasis to a preventive (preventive) function. The subsequent neo-Kantian revival of retributivism, which affirmed punishment as a moral duty, only reinforced this fundamental dualism between justice and expediency. Hegel’s conception offers a way out of this contradiction, viewing punishment as the dialectical “sublation” of crime. Based on this approach, the concept of “restorative justice” is put forward and substantiated. This is not a mechanical compromise, but a genuine synthesis in which an effective justice system overcomes the false choice between the past (atonement) and the future (crime prevention). In this model, the proportionality of punishment to the offense simultaneously legitimizes preventive action, and the social reintegration of the convicted person does not conflict with the idea of just retribution. Appealing to the essence of punishment, the author notes the general legal nature of this phenomenon and defines its socio-philosophical foundations through key characteristics, including its concept, purpose, functions, and place within the system of related legal categories. The applied systemic-mechanistic approach, consistent with the essence of dialectics, allowed for the attainment of the required quality of the practical and organizational component of the study.

punishment, retributivism, utilitarianism, justice, social benefit, talion, philosophy of law

Albov Alexey Pavlovich – Doctor of Juridical Science, Professor, Professor of the Department of Civil and Business Law, Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property (55a, Miklukha-Maklaya st., Moscow, 117279, Russian Federation), ORCID: 0000-0003-1716-0177, Scopus Author ID: 57211423850, Web of Science: ADH-8736-2022, Author ID: 36621376, e-mail: aap62@yandex.ru

Albov A.P. Dialektika nakazaniya: ot vozdayaniya k pravovoj neobxodimosti [Dialectics of punishment: from retribution to legal necessity] Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2025, no 4 (111), pp. 3–10. – DOI 10.26516/2071-8136.2025.4.3 (in Russian).

340.1

1. Avgustin A. Ob obuchenii oglashayemykh [On Catechumens’ Instruction]. Orthodox portal “Azbuka very”. Available at: https://pravobraz.ru/blazhennyj-avgustin-ob-obuchenii-oglashaemyx/ (accessed: 15.10.2025). (in Russian)

2. Aristotel. Sochineniya [Works]. In 4 vols. Vol. 4. Moscow, Mysl Publ., 1983. 830 p. (in Russian)

3. Bandurovskii K.V. Bessmertie dushi v filosofii Fomy Akvinskogo [The Immortality of the Soul in the Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2011, 328 p. (in Russian)

4. Beccaria Ch. O prestupleniyakh i nakazaniyakh [On Crimes and Punishments]. Comp. and introd. by V.S. Ovchinskii. Moscow, INFRA-M Publ., 2026, 183 p. (in Russian)

5. Bentham I. Vvedenie v osnovaniya nravstvennosti i zakonodatelstva [Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation]. Moscow, Rosspen Publ., 1998, 415 p. (in Russian)

6. Berman G. Dzh. Zapadnaya traditsiya prava: epokha formirovaniya [Western Tradition of Law: The Era of Formation]. 2nd ed. Moscow, Moscow University Publ., Infra-M – Norma Publ., 1998, 624 p. (in Russian)

7. Bol’shunova N.Ya. Proshchenie kak sotsiokulturnoe yavlenie [Forgiveness as a Sociocultural Phenomenon]. Razvitie cheloveka v sovremennom mire [Human Development in the Modern World]. Proceedings of the VI All-Russian Sci.-Pract. Conf. with Intern. Participation, Novosibirsk, April 14–15, 2015, in 2 vols., vol. I. Eds. N.Ya. Bolshunova, O.A. Shamshikova. Novosibirsk, NGPU Publ., 2015, pp. 160-168. (in Russian)

8. Vaidner D. O ritorike sekulyarizatsii [On the Rhetoric of Secularization]. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie [New Literary Review], 2007, no. 5, pp. 26-60. (in Russian)

9. Gegel G.V.F. Filosofiya prava [Philosophy of Right]. Transk. from German. Ed. and comp. by D.A. Kerimov and V.S. Nersesyants. Moscow, Mysl Publ., 1990. 524 p. (in Russian)

10. Gurvich G.D. Filosofiya i sotsiologiya prava: Izbrannye sochineniya [Philosophy and Sociology of Law: Selected Works]. Transk. by M.V. Antonov, St. Petersburg, Law Faculty of St. Petersburg St. Univ. Publ., 2004, 848 p. (in Russian)

11. Zer Kh. Vosstanovitelnoe pravosudie: novyi vzgliad na prestuplenie i nakazanie [Restorative Justice: A New Look at Crime and Punishment]. Ed. by L.M. Karnozova. Moscow, Sudebno-pravovaya reforma Publ., 2002, 328 p. (in Russian)

12. Istoriya politicheskikh i pravovykh uchenii: uchebnik [History of Political and Legal Doctrines: Textbook]. Ed. by O. E. Leista. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “Zertsalo”, 2006. 568 p. (in Russian)

13. Kant I. Metafizika nravov. Ch. 1. Sochineniya na nemetskom i russkom yazykakh. T. 5 [Metaphysics of Morals. Part 1. Works in German and Russian. Vol. 5]. Ed. by B. Tushling, N. Motroshilova. Moscow, Kanon+ Publ., 2014, 1120 p. (in Russian)

14. Kant I. Osnovy metafiziki nravstvennosti; Kritika prakticheskogo razuma; Metafizika nravov [Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Critique of Practical Reason; Metaphysics of Morals]. 3rd ed., revised. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2007, 528 p. (in Russian)

15. Kondrat’eva A.N. Sootnoshenie ponyatiy “Grekh” i “Prestuplenie” v srednevekovom kanonicheskom prave zapadnoi Evropy [Correlation of the Concepts “Sin” and “Crime” in Medieval Canon Law of Western Europe]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Kostroma State University], 2014, no. 6, pp. 208-211. (in Russian)

16. Lokk Dzh. Sochineniya. V 3 t. T. 3. Dva traktata o pravlenii [Works. In 3 vols. Vol. 3. Two Treatises of Government]. Moscow, Mysl Publ., 1988, 668 p. (in Russian)

17. Mamardashvili M.K. Kantianskie variatsii [Kantian Variations]. Moscow, Agraf Publ., 1997, 320 p. (in Russian)

18. Platon. Zakony [Laws]. Grazhdanskoe obshchestvo v Rossii. Available at: https://www.civisbook.ru/files/File/Platon_Lows.pdf (accessed: 15.10.2025). (in Russian)

19. Protiv oshibok grekov [Against the Errors of the Greeks]. Comment. and transl. from Latin by I. Bey. Kyiv, Kairos Publ., 2017, 190 p. (in Russian)

20. Rodnikov N.P. Uchenie Blazhennogo Avgustina o prinuzhdenii v dele very [The Teaching of Blessed Augustine on Coercion in Matters of Faith]. Orthodox portal “Azbuka very”. Available at: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Avrelij_Avgustin/uchenie-blazhennogo-avgustina-o-prinuzhdenii-v-dele-very/ (accessed: 15.10.2025). (in Russian)

21. Rolz Dzh. Teoriya spravedlivosti [Theory of Justice]. Sci. ed. and preface by V.V. Tselishchev. 2nd ed. Moscow, LKI Publ. House, 2010, 536 p. (in Russian)

22. Fuko M. Nadzirat i nakazyvat. Rozhdenie tyurmy [Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison]. Transl. from French by V. Naumov, ed. by I. Borisova. Moscow, Marginem Publ., 1999, 480 p. (in Russian)

23. Hirsch A. von. Censure and Sanctions. Oxford University Press, 1993, 113 p.