Anger is an emotion we are taught to manage, control and suppress. But what if anger is, as poet David Whyte says, one of the deepest possible forms of compassion available to humankind?

Philosophers and theologians have long distinguished between virtuous and non-virtuous anger. Aristotle defined anger as “a desire, accompanied by pain, for apparent retribution, aroused by an apparent, undeserved slighting against oneself or those connected to oneself”.

Anger appears to combine a physical sensation of torment with a desire to act. The English word “anger” has its etymological roots in the Old Norse angr, meaning grief and sorrow, and the Latin angere, to strangle, referring to the sensation of chest tightening, fists clenching, blood boiling.

How do we make sure our angry actions are just? Aristotle taught his students that anyone can get angry, but it takes skill and wisdom to turn anger into a virtue. For anger to have a moral quality, you have to get angry at the right person, at the right time, to the right degree, for the right purpose and with the right motive.

A complete lack of anger could itself be a vice, according to Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas, in situations where it is reasonable to act to restore........

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