Envy and us

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files
Envy_and_Us.pdf(199.36 KB)
Accepted Version
Date
2018-08-09
Authors
Salice, Alessandro
Montes Sánchez, Alba
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published Version
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Within emotion theory, envy is generally portrayed as an antisocial emotion because the relation between the envier and the rival is thought to be purely antagonistic. This paper resists this view by arguing that envy presupposes a sense of us. First, we claim that hostile envy is triggered by the envier's sense of impotence combined with her perception that an equality principle has been violated. Second, we introduce the notion of â hetero-induced self-conscious emotionsâ by focusing on the paradigmatic cases of being ashamed or proud of somebody else. We describe envy as a hetero-induced self-conscious emotion by arguing (a) that the impotence felt by the subject grounds the emotion's self-reflexivity and (b) that the rival impacts the subject's self-assessment because the rival is framed by the subject as an in-group member. Finally, we elaborate on the asset at stake in envy. We contend that this is esteem recognition: The envier covets the esteem that her reference group accords to the rival. Because, in envy, the subject conceives of herself as member of a group to which the other is also understood to belong, we conclude that envy is a social emotion insofar as it presupposes a sense of us.
Description
Keywords
Envy , Self-conscious emotions , Social emotions , Group identification
Citation
Salice, A. and Montes Sánchez, A. (2018) 'Envy and us', European Journal of Philosophy. doi:10.1111/ejop.12390
Copyright
© 2018, John Wiley & Sons Inc. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Salice, A. and Montes Sánchez, A. (2018) 'Envy and us', European Journal of Philosophy, doi:10.1111/ejop.12390, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12390. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.