Tony99

I was listening to NPR the other day and some one was discussing a new movie loosley base on the Count of Monte Christo.
This got me thinking about revenge...
With the all the current events (9-11, Iraq, etc.)
is there a naturalistic reason/purpose for revenge?
Is it rooted in a need to eliminate competition or establish a hierarchy?
It seems the desire for revenge has always been with us. Anyone willing to help organize and break it down for me?

Thanks,
Tony


"This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate."
-Of Revenge
by Francis Bacon

NialScorva

Welcome to the boards, Tony.

I'm not sure where would net you more responses than you've gotten here, it borders on being an Evolution/Creation question, but probably isn't phrased quite right for that forum. I'm going to move this over to Moral Foundations and Principles to see if you can get some responses there.

acronos

If you have already seen my bat analogy, skip the first paragraph.

There is a species of vampire bat. They need to feed every few days or they starve to death. Sometimes, a bat will be unable to find food in that amount of time. When this happens, another bat will share at significant cost to itself. The bats form sharing relationships with other bats. Bats that don't share are ostracized by the group and inevitably starve to death. This makes for strong incentive to share.

Humans have a similar dilemma. We live in communities of other humans. We are dependant on each other. If there were not significant consequences to playing unfairly, then the evolutionary advantage of playing unfairly would cause most people to evolve to play unfairly.

Anger, jealousy, and revenge are just as much an evolutionary strategy that evolved to support communities as love, friendship, and family. The reason it is usually not in your best interest to lie is because eventually you will get caught. When this happens the cost, due to revenge and anger, will probably be greater than any gains through lying. It takes years to build trust and only one lie to destroy it. All of these structures evolved to protect the interests of each individual. Ironically, in community oriented species it is in the best interest of the individual to promote the best interest of it's community. Humans are vengeful for the same reason bats ostracize.

lcb

acronos, you have done a good job of scientifically explaining the old adage "what goes around comes around"!