Eye for an Eye
Eye for an Eye
Cambridge University Press | December 19, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521856809 | 278 pages | PDF | 1.6 Mb
Cambridge University Press | December 19, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521856809 | 278 pages | PDF | 1.6 Mb
Getting even, as the biblical precept implies, is the essence of justice, according to this engaging essay. It's a simple idea, but Miller, a University of Michigan law professor (The Anatomy of Disgust), finds a world of social complexity in humanity's efforts to get the accounting right. He explores the inventive methods people have used to assign a concrete valuation to body parts (in the seventh century, King Aethelberht of Kent prescribed 10 shillings' compensation for a lost big toe), to whole human beings, to injuries and intangibles like pain and humiliation. Miller considers the fine weighing of debts and even our intrinsic value as humans (he's big on rankings and 10-best lists) to be nuanced and even poetic.