Proposed action: Inflict pain on a wrongdoer because the wrongdoer deserves to suffer.
Strongest case for
Wrongdoing creates a demand for answer, and anger can signal that moral order has been violated.
Strongest case against
Revenge often makes the sufferer's pain into appetite and reproduces the wrong through domination.
Who is affected, on which currencies
Analysis by track
Experience
Revenge may create satisfaction but also deliberately expands suffering.
Agency
Revenge can bind the victim's agency to the wrongdoer and bypass fair process.
Possibility
Cycles of retaliation narrow future peace and repair.
Reality-contact
Pain can be mistaken for justice when the real need is accountability, repair, and protection.
Corruption
Revenge corrupts moral agency when pain becomes appetite.
Residue
Unanswered wrongdoing leaves residue; revenge is often an attempt to discharge it destructively.
Process
Separate justice, protection, truth, accountability, repair, and punishment from appetite for pain.
Justice can repair moral order; revenge usually extends destruction.