On Oct 5, 2012, at 12:18 PM, andie_nachgeborenen wrote:
> 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.
I hope your paper discusses the Marquis de Sade's justification for his opposition to the death penalty (which of course nearly got him executed and did get him confined to an insane asylum)--that each family has the responsibility to enact retribution for outrageous crimes, as in Pushtunwala (which, of course, he had never heard of).
Shane Mage
This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
kindling in measures and going out in measures.
Herakleitos of Ephesos