Résumé
This paper investigates the significance of punishment from the perspective of its two most fundamental presuppositions. In its first part, the paper examines the fiction of the liberty of the individual. The inquiry proceeds as a presentation of some central concepts and arguments of Kant. The second part examine the presupposition of the exemplary and dissuasive character of the punishment. The author believes that this dimension of the punishment represents an anthropological reality. This time the author presents some of the central concept and arguments one can find in Schopenhauer’s philosophy.