Beccaria; from Rationalism to Empiricism: Epistemological Analysis of Caesar Beccaria's Criminial Thoughts

Each theory in humanism is influenced by its own methodological preconditions, including the epistemic preconditions and it is also born from them. After the advent of modernism, the two paralleled epistemic processes of rationalism and empiricism emerged in the philosophical thought of the West. The thought of Beccaria- the innovator of classical school of criminal law- has been affected by the both processes. The acceptance of the "utilitarianism", based on maximizing pleasure and minimizing suffering and the "association of meanings" have been the two significant signs of Breccia’s empiricism. On the contrary, advising and prescribing "utility" as well as resorting to "social contract", "natural law" and the "principle of justice" are indications of its impressionability from rationalism. Each of these cases has led to certain results in his criminal thought. Therefore, Beccaria’s criminal thoughts are epistemologically fluctuating between the two processes of empiricism and rationalism. Thus, it has not been subject to the epistemic unit structure. For example, if Beccaria, regarding the empiricism, values the "utilitarianism", the acceptance of the legislative system in him must also be based on that principle not on resorting to a "social contract" that is not empirically accepted. Also, accepting the "utilitarianism" is not compatible with the idea of "natural law" and "principle of justice".