Throughout most early cultures, the first form of justice was revenge. When a wrong occurred, revenge was an acceptable, even encouraged way to find redress. However, contemporary Western society condemns revenge both legally and socially. There are still penalties for taking the law into your own hands. In Getting Even, Charles K. B. Barton challenges the notion that revenge is always wrong. He argues that revenge is personal retribution and that, like any other form of punishment, it can be both just and unjust. Framing the issue in the broadest context as a way to address the needs of victim, offender, and society, he offers a blueprint for improving the justice system and attaining a true resolution to crime. Barton makes a compelling case for implementing institutionalized revenge as a way of allowing victims to attain adequate material restitution, apology, and justice.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
A serious intellectual challenge to those of us who reject the concept of revenge. It is fresh, breaking out of the standard approaches of retributivist scholarship in a most innovative way. Whatever your preferred philosophy of punishment, after reading Barton's book you are unlikely to think of revenge in quite the same way. -- John Braithwaite, Australian National University
Barton's highly readable discussion, with its effective dual philosophical and practical orientation, will prompt searching reassessments, both from philosophers concerned with the place of retribution in an adequate moral theory of punishment, and from those working for improvements in our criminal justice systems. -- John Bishop, University of Auckland
The best book-length study available on the rationality and morality of revenge. It is marvelously lucid and deeply challenging. -- Graham Oddie, University of Colorado at Boulder
The vast majority of contemporary moral theorists hold that revenge and retribution are morally indefensible. Charles Barton subjects this view to a very close scrutiny; and develops a very serious, circumspect, and sustained argument in support of moral retributivism. This thought-provoking and very well-written book deserves to be widely read and discussed. -- Michael Tooley, author of Abortion and Infanticide
Barton's highly readable discussion, with its effective dual philosophical and practical orientation, will prompt searching reassessments, both from philosophers concerned with the place of retribution in an adequate moral theory of punishment, and from those working for improvements in our criminal justice systems. -- John Bishop, University of Auckland
The best book-length study available on the rationality and morality of revenge. It is marvelously lucid and deeply challenging. -- Graham Oddie, University of Colorado at Boulder
The vast majority of contemporary moral theorists hold that revenge and retribution are morally indefensible. Charles Barton subjects this view to a very close scrutiny; and develops a very serious, circumspect, and sustained argument in support of moral retributivism. This thought-provoking and very well-written book deserves to be widely read and discussed. -- Michael Tooley, author of Abortion and Infanticide
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Brilliant Defense of Revenge as a Necessary Condition for Justice,
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This review is from: Getting Even: Revenge As a Form of Justice (Paperback)
This book is required reading for those of us who--like me--are inclined to believe that retributive justice is morally wrong: why create more pain? Isn't there already enough of that in this vale of tears?No less a philosopher than Immanuel Kant (probably the greatest of all time) believed that justice requires retribution. Inspiring reading for anyone who may, e.g., have a brother who abuses and makes death threats against his wife and children.
3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, but the writing could use some major work,
By "hallcp" (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Getting Even: Revenge As a Form of Justice (Paperback)
I certainly agree that Getting Even was an interesting look at revenge and it moral defensibility, and the book is worth a read if one doesn't have any other gripping texts lying around. However, I do whish the Barton had cut out some of the redundancy from text. One doesn't need to say the same thing five times in a row to get a simple point across. Also, better proof reading would have been nice (chapter four was esp. bad, IMHO).
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The above aphorisms capture well the divergent attitudes that the idea of revenge often evokes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Zealand, Robert Solomon, Changing Paradigms, Key Points of Chapters, Robert Nozick New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The above aphorisms capture well the divergent attitudes that the idea of revenge often evokes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Zealand, Robert Solomon, Changing Paradigms, Key Points of Chapters, Robert Nozick New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
3
books
cite this book:
- Criminal Law by J. C. Smith in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Thus Spake Zarathustra (Dover Thrift Editions) by Friedrich Nietzsche in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Restorative Justice by Heather Strang in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Genealogy of Morals (Dover Thrift Editions) by Friedrich Nietzsche in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Forgiveness and Mercy (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law) by Jeffrie G. Murphy in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 100 books this book cites
- Ethical Issues In Policing by Seumas Miller on page 146, and Back Matter
- Restorative Justice: Theoretical foundations by Elmar G. M. Weitekamp on page 31
- Restorative Justice: Ideas, Values, Debates by Gerry Johnstone in Back Matter
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