Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Is it worth killing someone for revenge?
At the beginning of the semester we talk about if a killing could be just. In the reading Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter for the war of Troy. The reason why I bought this topic up was before I agree with Clytemnestra for killing her husband King Agamemnon because he sacrifice his daughter in the war. I do personally believe that they are just killings. But after seeing and hearing about increases of violence in many communities I don't think any killing is just. For example in Chicago there was rival gang fight amongst teenage boys. The victim Derrion Albert was beaten to death by the group of gang members. Derrion Albert was a good student and an innocent victim who was trying to break up the fight because one of his friend were fighting. The reason why the gangs fought was to have revenge against each other. Before seeing the video of Derrion Albert getting beaten to death I use to agree with someone if they killed or hurt a family member, a friend or a love one. Now it is not worth it because someone innocent ends up dying or everyone end up being killed. In the readings of the beginning of the semester Orestes killed his mother Clytemnestra to get revenge for killing his father Agamemnon. After Orestes killed his mother he had a miserable life. Is it worth killing someone for revenge?
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Maybe we should ask what revenge is supposed to achieve? For instance, the death penalty applies to capital offenses not only as a form of vengeful punishment, but as a deterrent for the one who committed the crime and others who may contemplate similar acts.
ReplyDeleteIn pointing out these justifications, I'm not trying to determine whether they are valid or invalid, but rather I'm trying to raise the question of whether we see a value in having a legal system take on the duties of punishment and deterrence and within what limits. For example, if we do think that laws should have the right to punish and should use punishment to deter, how do we justify these aspects of law? Are they justified morally in the sense that we have a moral obligation to the law and therefore the law is entitled to use force when we violate the law? Are they justified by their effectiveness or utility, in the sense that punishment is legitimate if it works as a deterrent and lessens the occurrence of a particular kind of crime?
Finally, Aquinas will claim that laws have to be enacted and executed by the proper authorities or else they are unjust. This seems to rule out Clytaemestra's revenge. But if Clytaemestra's act was a morally justified punishment of wrongdoing, then why does it matter that she is not a proper authority?
I completely agree with you. Killing someone, in my opinion is not just by any means. Revenge is definitely not an excuse. However, I do understand that there is a death penalty that is sill enacted in most states today. I don't think that we use it for revenge per say. I think it's more because we want to make sure this person never kills again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, as well. Revenge is never a justification for murdering someone. Revenge is located on a more personal scale. Even if a person sought out the death penalty for the sentence to a murder, I would think that life without parole would be a more harsh sentence. That person would suffer each and every day in prison knowing that they will never see outside the prison walls again.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with all you guys as well but i feel that certain details need to be expressed in the trial. Even though murdering someone out of revenge is never justified, the circumstances can play a large part in lessening the sentence. If the murder was out of a fit of rage resulting from the murder of a loved one then that person should not receive murder in the first degree but a lesser sentence. So even though murder is never justified, the details are very necessary.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with some of the above posts. While in your minds, a murder may not seem just based on the concept of revenge, it most certainly will to avenger. Going back to the Orestia story, Clytamestra felt that by killing Agamemnon, she was avenging the death of her daughter and giving her some closure on teh matter. While it didnt bring her daughter back she still felt as though she had done something to honor that loss and to make Agamemnon pay. The same can be said of Orestes. Regardless of whether or not he lived a miserable life after killing his mother, that murder was justified in order to gain vengence for his father's death.
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