HUMA 1825 Lecture 19: Minow on Vengeance and Forgiveness
18 Jul 2017
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De ned as an impulse to retaliate law. If someone su ers something, you"re defending your wrongs. The idea of standing up for yourself and defending yourself. Retribution is vengeance that"s limited and controlled. Can ignore how each person"s responsibility to atrocity di ers. Law has to come from the person"s heart, otherwise it"s fake. Can be a cruel pact between perpetrator and the law. Has both responses of vengeance and forgiveness. Art and memorials, national remembrance days or holidays. Reparations do not provide closure (tough love) Can involve truth commissions to nd facts. Morality (response to others that"s not bound by the rules) Can cause disproportion of punishment (how much punishment is enough?) When you take the law into your own hands, it can go too far. If the decision is about retaliating problems. Possible for the harm itself to be an illusion (someone may think they"re right, when they"re actually wrong) the criminal feel bad.
