The Politics of Revenge
Critical Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology and Theology

Workshop

3–4 September 2026
Karl-Jaspers-Haus Oldenburg
Unter den Eichen 22

The motif of revenge is gaining significance amid the current rise of authoritarianism. This interdisciplinary workshop aims to critically examine the motif of revenge from the perspectives of philosophy, theology and psychology. Revenge is an act of retribution and is accompanied by feelings of hurt, xenophobic resentment, hatred and satisfaction. On the one hand, drawing on these academic disciplines, the workshop will address the question of what revenge is: what drives feelings of revenge? Why is revenge perceived as just? Why, nevertheless, is it unjustifiable? Secondly, the workshop will examine the role that revenge plays in authoritarian discourses, movements and policies. What makes revenge so attractive to anti-democratic positions?

Organisers:
Tilo Wesche (Institute of Philosophy, University of Oldenburg)
Sebastian Spanknebel (University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Oldenburg)

The workshop is open to the public.

Programme:

3 September
13:15–13:30: Welcome
13:30–15:00: Vera King (Sigmund Freud Institute, Goethe University Frankfurt)
The Memory of Revenge
15:15–16:45: Philipp Schmidt-Boddy (Section for Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy,
Heidelberg University Hospital)
On Feelings of Revenge: Psychological Functions and the Relevance of Emotional Abilities
17:00–18:30: Sebastian Spanknebel (University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Oldenburg)
Revenge as a Means of Avoiding Grief

4 September
9:00–10:30: Gertrud Koch (Institute for Theatre Studies, Free University of Berlin and Leuphana University of Lüneburg)
The Back Stairs of Revenge. On the Intertwining of Nature and Technology in Cinematic Fiction
10:45–12:15: Tilo Wesche (Institute of Philosophy, University of Oldenburg)
Times of Revenge: On the Temporal Structure of Retribution
12:15–13:15: Lunch break
13:15–14:45: Wolfgang Palaver (Institute for Systematic Theology, University of Innsbruck)
Revenge and Religion: Approaches from the Perspective of René Girard’s Mimetic Anthropology
15:00–16:30: Lisanne Teuchert (Institute for Systematic Theology, Friedrich-Alexander University
Erlangen/Nuremberg)
The Politics of Revenge as Anti-Modernity: A Symptom of a Reductive View of Humanity?