Classical school (criminology) Classical school (criminology) In criminology, the Classical School usually refers to the 18th-century work during the Enlightenment by the utilitarian and social-contract philosophers Jeremy Bentham and Cesare Beccaria. Their interests lay in the system of criminal justice and penology and indirectly, through the proposition that "man is a calculating animal", in the causes of criminal behavior. The Classical School of thought was premised on the idea that people have free will in making decisions, and that punishment can be a deterrent for crime, so long as the punishment is proportional, fits the crime, and is carried out promptly. The system
Thought and Action impressions from "outside" of the mind, where the "outside" includes their own bodies. The historian Peter Gay wrote that "Thought and Action" is a "brilliant" and "lucid" contribution to the philosophy of action, and a subtle vindication of free will. The philosopher Roger Scruton, writing in "Sexual Desire" (1986), credited Hampshire with providing a seminal discussion of two contrasting outlooks on the future that can be called "predicting and deciding." The philosopher Anthony Quinton wrote that Hampshire's "systematic aim and fine mandarin prose were both unusual for an Oxford philosopher of the time." Thought and Action Thought and Action is