Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits

by Jeffrie G. Murphy

We have all been victims of wrongdoing. Forgiving that wrongdoing is one of the staples of current pop psychology dogma; it is seen as a universal prescription for moral and mental health in the self-help and recovery section of bookstores. At the same time, personal vindictiveness as a rule is seen as irrational and immoral. In many ways, our thinking on these issues is deeply inconsistent; we value forgiveness yet at the same time now use victim-impact statements to argue for harsher penalties for criminals. Do we have a right to hate others for what they have done to us? The distinguished philosopher and law professor Jeffrie Murphy is a skeptic when it comes to our views on both emotions. In this short and accessible book, he proposes that vindictive emotions (anger, resentment, and the desire for revenge) actually deserve a more legitimate place in our emotional, social, and legal lives than we currently recognize, while forgiveness deserves to be more selectively granted. Murphy grounds his views on careful analysis of the nature of forgiveness, a subtle understanding of the psychology of anger and resentment, and a fine appreciation of the ethical issues of self-respect and self-defense. He also uses accessible examples from law, literature, and religion to make his points. Providing a nuanced approach to a proper understanding of the place of our strongest emotions in moral, political, and personal life, and using lucid, easily understood prose, this volume is a classic example of philosophical thinking applied to a thorny, everyday problem.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, School, Nonfiction, Law

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Nathan Battey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophy isn’t my favorite genre, and that’s not Murphy’s fault. :) The book is readable and has some helpful parts, particularly in his discussion of vengeance. As he states at the beginning of the book, the purpose is not to take a dogmatic stand but to start a conversation and to investigate different ideas. As such, it is not as definitive as one would like. Murphy admits that he is not a theologian as he addresses forgiveness and punishment from a Christian perspective in the final two chapters, and his admission proves true.

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgiveness, punishment, revenge, and similar topics are really interesting, and this book by Murphy is a great philosophical look at these topics. He asks what it means to forgive, who deserves forgiveness, and a lot of the other questions we need to be asking ourselves. Murphy discusses religious views on forgiveness, ideas from other philosophers, and topics involving the criminal justice system as well. This is a short read an worth the time if you’re interested in this topic.

[Athan Rodostianos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth a read of you don't mind thinking

[Ira Therebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the introduction I felt I may not like the book. As the author seems to be more pro punishment than me. But luckily I was wrong. It is a great book exploring the idea of forgiveness through philosophy, in Christianity, law and psychotherapy.

While we know the standpoint of the author he does a great job to discussing both sides. And while i am still against death penalty and overly harsh punishments I did enjoy for the first time to read the well thought through and presented argument of the other side.

I may not agree with all of his arguments, but he did bring many great points (as for example about the harm of premature/forced forgiveness) that were very well thought through and convincing.

Strongly recommend it to everyone no matter what they stance on forgiveness is. Makes one think and explore different views and way of thinking.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Christian-based philosophy of the interactions between feelings of revenge and forgiveness, with some connections to the criminal justice system. Maybe because I'm not a philosopher, and not Christian, I wanted some more concrete evidence and discussion with victims or laws instead of quotations of scripture. While Murhpy did provoke some thought about the big questions, it all just felt too abstract to me. I read this for a grad school class on transitional justice and our discussion tried to connect issues of forgiveness to reconciliation in terms of big group TRCs.

[p · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a convincing book