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Simone de Beauvoir

A Question of Vengeance

Pauline O’Flynn explores de Beauvoir’s argument that punishment is necessary to demonstrate that the degradation of humanity can never be ignored.

Simone de Beauvoir poses a disturbing moral question in her philosophical essay ‘An Eye for an Eye’, published in 1946, shortly after the liberation of France. While it was written as a response to the trial and execution of an intellectual convicted of treason, the question de Beauvoir raises has considerable significance for contemporary society. Her question is about vengeance, “the need to punish, to avenge ourselves.” She asks “Is it well founded? Can it be satisfied?” (‘Oeil pour Oeil’, in Les Temps Modernes 1, no.5, 1946: p.

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