受到严重伤害的人可能会愤怒。他们可能认为，这种愤怒在道德上是合理的。在什么情况下，这种正当的愤怒是合理的?这种愤怒可以以什么形式被允许表达——对引起愤怒的一个或多个伤害的源头的怨恨?报复吗?正义愤怒的对象本身是否要对引起愤怒的伤害负责，这有关系吗?他们自己是否遭受着无关的不幸，这重要吗?正义愤怒的对象未能弥补引起愤怒的伤害，这足够吗?失败是否超出了愤怒对象的控制，这有关系吗?正义的愤怒的表达是否伤害了与伤害无关的人，这重要吗? These and similar ethical questions are raised by the filmThree Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.

Mildred Hayes is the mother of a daughter who was murdered, and raped while she was dying. When the local police have failed to identify the culprit after seven months, she buys three billboards: “Raped While Dying,” “And Still No Arrests?” and “How Come, Chief Willoughby?” The billboards are aimed to shame local police into action, but they are also expressions of her anger—anger at herself for failing to protect her daughter, anger at her ex-husband for leaving her, anger at the local police for failing to bring the offender to justice, anger at the local police for discriminating against African Americans, and anger at a world in which women are raped. Mildred sternly believes that she is justified in her anger and she resents those who do not take in her judgment sufficient action against the harm she has suffered.

当我回顾这部电影时，脑海中浮现出两个哲学主题。首先是私人司法与官方司法的角色。John Locke's argument in theSecond Treatise of Government对于社会契约的危险是私人行使惩戒权。洛克认为，人在自然状态下具有生命权、财产权等自然权利;他们也有行使这些权利的自然权利。但是人们很容易滥用这种惩罚的自然权利;他们无法判断自己的权利何时受到侵犯，以及该如何应对。因此，将他们的惩戒权移交给公民社会是合理的，公民社会可以建立一个主权结构，以更大的公正性行使收集的权利。这种洛克式契约主义的一个重大问题是，当主权国未能以保护特定成员或公民社会成员的一个确定的子群体的权利的方式行使惩罚权利时，什么行为是正当的。米尔德丽德认为她的权利——至少是社区中其他一些被边缘化的人的权利——没有得到当地警察的保护，因此她有理由亲自处理此事。

The second theme concerns anger as a moral emotion. Many years ago, Jeffrie Murphy, a retributivist about punishment, wrote on forgiveness as the forswearing of resentment. (Murphy's original article was published inMidwest Studies in Philosophyin 1982; in dialogue with Jean Hampton, Murphy later wrote a wonderful short book,Forgiveness and Mercy， 1988年由剑桥大学出版社出版。这两本书都可能在大学图书馆广泛发行，并且在2010年以电子形式再版)。墨菲认为宽恕是人与人之间平等道德关系的恢复。墨菲认为，过于准备的宽恕，显示出对自己或他人缺乏道德上的尊重。宽恕与自尊是一致的，当行为者已经忏悔，或者行为者造成的伤害是出于良好的动机。如果理由是行为者已经遭受了足够多的痛苦，除非痛苦带来悔改，宽恕就会有更多的问题。墨菲认为，被冤枉会降低一个人自身的道德地位，除非痛苦降低了犯错者的道德地位，否则宽恕不会恢复道德平等。同样，当犯错的人只是受到羞辱，或者当被冤枉的人为了过去的时光决定让过去的事过去时，宽恕也会有更多的问题。另一方面，墨菲认为，在适当的时候不原谅别人，反映了一个人对自己道德地位的夸大看法，这也误解了道德平等。

Three Billboardsprovides a rich basis for considering these themes about private justice and the morality of anger. It was the big winner at the Golden Globes—Best Picture, Best Actress in a Drama for Frances McDormand, Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell, and Best Screenplay for Martin McDonagh. After its early days of glory, the film has beencriticizedfor the ease with which it appears to allow redemption for the racist policeman. Nonetheless, getting audiences to think about these questions is itself a worthy endeavor. Although I have a number of other films to see before the Oscars, it's on my list for the Dionysius Award for Philosophical Movie of the Year.