Resentment and Intolerance

Abstract

The article demonstrates the transformation of resentment as one of the basic moral feelings in the vice of intolerance, which is the greatest danger to the modern world. Its particular acuteness is due to the growth of national movements and nationalism. To counter intolerance, it is important to identify its mental and social roots. The normative treatment of the emotion of anger through the concepts of justice and respect for man transforms it into a sense of resentment. The transfer of resentment from the act on the actor becomes stable and breeds hatred. The hatred is the emotional core of intolerance.

The social roots of intolerance are revealed through criticism of the concept of "ressentiment" of Nietzsche. The lack of this concept is seen in the fact that it reproduces only one side in the genesis of intolerance, namely envious-hostile attitude of slaves to the masters. The social base of intolerance, as shown in the article, is more extensive and deeper. t consists not only in the antagonism of the aristocracy and the lower classes, but also in n the intergroup enmity, in the perception of another as hostile. The author tries to reveal the mechanisms of transformation of resentment into intolerance: substitution of guilt by otherness, transfer of negative attitude from a particular person to his environment, pathological narrowing of consciousness, etc. The fight against intolerance involves cultivating the respect for the human person in general and for the variety of manifestations of humanity; localization of resentment, namely, the separation of the act from the agent and from his neighbors; countering the spread of fabrications that discredit another's culture and way of life; maximum criticality to the claims of national exclusivity. As the main preventive measure, it is recommended to harmonize the modules of morality, i.e., the coordination of indignation with guilt, love and dignity of a person.