> The only human emotion
> I can imagine as sufficient is *revenge*, especially when bolstered
> by religious fanaticism. My revulsion at Justin's advocacy
> of state-administered vengeance is prompted by the moral
> legitimation it gives to religiously-or-politically-administered
> vengeance. IMHO the most valuable moral precept to be found
> in the whole Bible is the phrase "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord."
If we start from Marx's idea of "human being," an idea with an ancient lineage, "vengeance" is always unreasonable because it assumes that bad behaviour could be the result of something other than ignorance of the good. That's why Marx's revolutionaries (in contrast, say, to Foucault's) are magnanimous.
The Kleinian psychoanalytic understanding of a desire for vengeance is consistent with this. It roots it in clinical narcissism. The evil perceived in those who are the target of vengeance is "narcissistic" in the sense that it's the perceiver's own sadistic aggressiveness split off and projected into others. Vengeance also serves to defend against the bad feeling that would otherwise be associated with this sadistic aggressiveness by providing a rationalized outlet for it.
Ted