Justice vs. Vengeance — Is There a Difference?

The Living Philosophy

Philosopher and anthropologist Rene Girard once described justice and public vengeance. Nietzsche expressed the same in his Genealogy of Morals. Why then do we value justice so highly and look down so judgingly on revenge? And what, if this is true, is the purpose of justice? How is it in any way different from vengeance? The answer is that it is profoundly different and in this video we explore why.

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📚 Further Reading:

- Prisoner abuse data: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032885500080004004

- Death penalty data: https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/death-penalty-international-poll

- MP support of death penalty: https://ukandeu.ac.uk/big-differences-on-economic-and-social-values-between-mps-and-voters-new-academic-survey-finds/

- Recidivism in Norwegian prisons - 1 year: https://medium.com/wagovernor/how-norwegian-prisons-prepare-inmates-to-become-better-neighbors-534409a90f33

- 3-year Norwegian recidivism: https://www.firststepalliance.org/post/norway-prison-system-lessons

- 1980s Norway recidivism: https://www.firststepalliance.org/post/norway-prison-system-lessons

- Nietzsche, F. (2000) *Genealogy of Morals* in _Basic Writings of Nietzsche_ ed. by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Modern Library.

- Girard R. (1979) _Violence and the Sacred_. Baltimore: Hopkins Univ. Press.

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🎼 Media Used:

1. Anguish — Kevin MacLeod

2. Mind Scrape — Kevin MacLeod

3. Fresh Air — Kevin MacLeod

4. Dreams Become Real — Kevin MacLeod

5. Dark Times — Kevin MacLeod

Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic

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⌛ Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

01:33 Rehabilitation vs Punishment

06:29 The Dark Side of Justice

10:15 The Hegemony of Justice

13:26 Further Avenues for Research