hey, Amilcar. Well, let's get right on to talking about revenge. From chapter 5 of Govier, "A Delicate Balance", page 43: "He humiliated you by staging a damaging attack; by humiliating him in an equally damaging one, you want to prove that you're not one down.[...] by showing that you've got the power and the strength to put him down.  Then you get the satisfaction of seeing him suffer at least as much as you have, and of knowing you achieved this result.[...] The power you show in bringing this about will restore your self-esteem.  That's one of the moral arguments in support of revenge." She lists several proposed reasons for taking revenge: 1. to restore your self-esteem 2. to bring about justice 3. to gain social solidarity, (calling for revenge rallies people to action) 4. the nonwimp argument (striking back shows your determination and resolve, so others won't do the same thing to you) 5. to satisfy you She also lists reasons against it, some of which I list below. 6. revenge is often an act of sudden opportunity, not of sudden means.  Self-esteem, improved simply because you hurt someone when you had the chance, is frail. 7. justice is another term for revenge, in my book.  8. Social solidarity, achieved by calling for revenge, motivates those people toward revenge.  Since revenge is cyclical, forever retaliated against, the solidarity achieved doesn't bring the safety to the people that the solidarity would have been valuable to help achieve.  Instead, the group effort to gain revenge entangles that group in a conflict, as it has Isreali's, Palestinians, Serbs, Shiites, Sunnis, Blacks, Whites, Indians, Pakistanis, .... 9. Any moral balance that revenge-taking is meant to achieve violates the principle of morals, that "right" or "wrong" are assigned according to the known and intended results of a moral action, and not assigned according to a weighing of the full history of revenge-taking on both sides.  10. You might show determination and resolve by taking revenge, so others won't treat you how you were ill-treated.  But to do so might provoke retaliations from the others you feared in the first place.  After taking revenge, you'll probably have reason to fear them even more.  At least it's questionable whether the act of taking revenge actually helped protect you. 11. the satisfaction of revenge is immoral.  The feeling may or may not be there afterward, but the act itself does not have ethical grounds simply because it made you feel good. What are your thoughts about moral balance, Amilcar? -nj