Hugo Bedau Explained

Hugo Adam Bedau
Birth Date:23 September 1926
Education:University of Redlands
Boston University (MS)
Harvard University (PhD)
Discipline:Philosophy
Workplaces:Tufts University
Main Interests:Capital punishment

Hugo Adam Bedau (September 23, 1926  - August 13, 2012)[1] was the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Tufts University, and is best known for his work on capital punishment. He has been called a "leading anti-death-penalty scholar" by Stuart Taylor Jr., who has quoted Bedau as saying "I'll let the criminal justice system execute all the McVeighs they can capture, provided they'd sentence to prison all the people who are not like McVeigh."[2]

Career

Bedau received his undergraduate education at the naval training program at USC and at the University of Redlands, where he graduated in 1949. He completed his masters at Boston University in 1951 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1961.[3] Bedau subsequently taught at Dartmouth College, Princeton University and Reed College before joining Tufts in 1966. He retired in 1999.[4] Bedau was a founding member of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,[5] and served many years on its board of directors, including several as chairman. He was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union,[6] for whom he wrote on the death penalty.[7]

Bedau was the author of The Death Penalty in America (1st edition, 1964; 4th edition, 1997), The Courts, the Constitution, and Capital Punishment (1977), Death is Different (1987), and Killing as Punishment (2004), and co-author of In Spite of Innocence (1992). On the occasion of Bedau's retirement, Norman Daniels said of The Death Penalty in America: "It is the premier example in this century of the systematic application of academic philosophical skills to a practical issue, and the flood of work in practical ethics that has followed can rightfully cite Hugo's work as its starting point."

Bedau also published Civil Disobedience: Theory and Practice (Pegasus, 1969) and a later volume on the theory of civil disobedience.[8]

Personal life

Bedau married twice. His first marriage to Jan Mastin, by whom he had four children, including the philosopher Mark Bedau, ended in divorce. His second marriage, in 1990, was to Constance E. Putnam, a medical historian.[1]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Hugo Bedau, Philosopher Who Opposed Death Penalty, Dies at 85. August 16, 2012. August 18, 2012. The New York Times. William. Yardley.
  2. News: Does the death penalty save innocent lives?. Taylor Jr.. Stuart. May 31, 2001. National Journal. December 1, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080830004809/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/taylor2001-05-31.htm . 2008-08-30.
  3. From the description of Hugo Bedau, papers, 1949-2001 1955-1999 1949-2001, bulk 1955-1990. (Tufts University - Tisch Library). WorldCat record id: 759511540
  4. Web site: Hugo A. Bedau. February 23, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080223230335/http://ase.tufts.edu/philosophy/people/bedau.shtml. Tufts University. May 28, 2008.
  5. News: IN MEMORIAM: Hugo Adam Bedau. Death Penalty Information Center. 13 August 2012. 23 February 2016.
  6. News: Resolution on the retirement of Hugo Adam Bedau adopted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Tufts University . https://web.archive.org/web/20080321034347/http://ase.tufts.edu/philosophy/people/hugo.htm . March 21, 2008 . Norman Daniels . Tufts University . May 17, 1999 . May 28, 2008 . dead .
  7. Web site: The Case Against The Death Penalty. Hugo Adam Bedau. American Civil Liberties Union. July 1992. May 28, 2008.
  8. Book: Civil Disobedience in Focus . Routledge . 1991 . 0-415-05055-3.