Is "an eye for an eye" ethical?

• Author: Kaminer, Ariel
• Position: THE ETHICIST - Brief article

A food-delivery person chained his bike to my locked-up bike when he couldn't find a spot on the pole. Unable to ride to lunch, I chained both our bikes to the pole and walked. When I returned, he was really upset. Was my instinct to teach him a lesson unethical?

Anthony B., New York

LET'S START WITH THE OBVIOUS: The guy was asking for it. He knowingly inconvenienced a stranger, so he couldn't have been all that shocked when someone returned the favor.

Your solution seems so elegant: Use the very tools of this man's discourtesy to teach him a lesson about respect. But as satisfying as eye-for-an-eye justice can be, it's unlikely to cause him to reflect on how he wronged you. It will probably just make him hate you and therefore care that much less about inconveniencing you or anyone else he might proceed to lock up.

Most likely, the guy was just scrambling to stay on schedule, making a quick bet that he could get in and...