[lbo-talk] Death penalty (was: Singapore)

[andie_nachgeborenen]

I have a draft paper on revenge as a form of justice, not yet ready to be seen, in which I discuss the usual theories and propose my own. Revenge, I believe, as do most people, underlies the concept of retribution. I argue that revenge is a form of justice that has a logic of its own and is not mere bloodthirstiness. I don't try to link revenge into retribution and officially sanctioned punishment. My object is to just show that it is more than than lower brain blood lust and eligible in principle for consideration for a place In an account of punishment. I do not think that anyone except the handful of extreme utilitarians really reject revenge,although I do think revenge is poorly understood. In all modesty I think I may be the only person who understands it,as I have a novel account that is as far as I know quite original. I don't think lack of a generally accepted theoretical account disqualifies revenge or any deeply held consideration from potential inclusion in policy. I and many people who think about this are not pure revenge theorists; as federal and other sentencing laws provide, just deserts and proportionality, two revenge-based considerations, are generally balanced with other factors in arriving at what seems like a socially acceptable and more or less fair punishment for wrongdoing. So I think that it is is very rare that considerations if revenge are imposed with no regard to consequences and other factors.

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 5, 2012, at 10:46 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:


> Ravi: "the concept of “justice” served by retribution (which I do not
> understand at all)"
> 
> [WS:] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice
> 
> I tend to believe that the concept of retribution is a necessary
> logical consequence of the concept of justice, which is an apriori
> category of reasoning i.e. we have an "innate" concept of justice that
> organizes our way of thinking of human relations.  It thus follows
> that if a norm is violated it must be punished for the sake of justice
> regardless of any utilitarian considerations.  For example, if I
> willfully injure you I must be appropriately punished for violating
> the norm that proscribed inflicting injuries on other people -
> regardless of any utilitarian consideration, e.g. amount of monetary
> compensation for your medical bills, lost time at work, etc.  Please
> note that forgiveness does not imply absence of retribution - it
> implies only the absence of personal grudge and desire for a revenge.
> 
> -- 
> Wojtek
> 
> "An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."
> 
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