OU on the BBC: Justice Season

I have enjoyed consideration of justice and the citizen, but I would really be intruigued to know what guidance philosophers can give us about the following case, recently featured in the news: A woman in Iran has succeeded in her quest to administer acid into the eyes of the man who, some years earlier had thrown acid on her face, leaving her in disfigured and blind. (The man was attending her university on the same course and had developed an infatuation for her, which she did not reciprocate. She otherwise knew very little about him. They were strangers).
She knows that she will ultimately gain nothing from carrying out her "revenge" as she herself calls it. She argues that he will not have a fraction of the suffering she underwent (she was in agony for 5 hours before she finally reached a hospital that could treat her burns and give her pain relief). She does not want him killed- even though the man himself is happy to die. She says that to die is too easy- a cop out. The man himself is without remorse and therefore she holds out no hope that he will learn be changed in any way, having recieved the punishment. According to the woman, her message is to the men in her society who think that it is okay to treat someone in this way.
I have listened to her story- I cannot help but to be shocked and moved by her tale of suffering, by her courage and by her clear logic. At the same time I find the idea of punishing someone in this way completely stomach churning. However I respect her resolve to carry out the punishment with her own hand- such is her strength of determination. This situation is completely outside of my own personal experience and understanding and I find myself unable to reach a judgement as to how to ensure that this woman recieves proper justice for all that she has suffered- and continues to suffer, without recourse to the barbarity of a punishment, which I believe ultimately degrades us all.

I watched the final episode last night in which marriage and moral intrusion by the state in terms of its law were discussed. There seems to be another way of looking at the question.If we look at marriage as a contract and at the states' role to ensure that a contract is honoured (or a penalty imposed if it is not) then the contract can only be made between persons able to honour it. There is then a practical understanding rather than a 'moral' decision as to who can be married - morality is limited to ensuring contracts are honoured.

I have been watching the Michael Sandel contribution to the season, made me a student again - 20 years since my first degree but all the arguments came rushing back with such passion and Michael is a great tutor with his students (wish I had such good lecturers). Now thinking again how we get lost in our own lives and media opinion rather than thinking for ourselves: time to go back to formal education - thank you BBC and OU

Watched the programme tonight with interest - its a valuable series. But it seems to me absurd to look at Clinton's 'misleading truth' as though his motive was to tell the truth in order to obey the moral rule. He was clearly telling the truth so that if the actual events were ever discovered he would not appear to be a lier.

More generally - there is a point where Kant and Utilitarianism come together - the idea that fairness is not just a moral duty but is the way to bring happiness to the greatest number of people. Fairness takes into considerations both the imperatives of morality and of necessity and is the result of a conscientious judgement based on both. The idea of the whole of society being capable of making the same judgements about any situation, judgements that are both objectively and subjectively fair, could be seen as utopian. But the possibility nonetheless exists and is the basis for the law.

Watching Sandel one can see how difficult questions can be presented in an interesting, challenging and thoughtful way: a quality of a first-rate teacher and in Sandel's case a first-rate academic.

I'm loving the programmes and the new found enthusiasm it is giving me. Thank you.