The relation of value in resentment and how it affects our attitudes toward the environment and ecological crisis
Introduction
Global warming has been a common topic for decades now. Although in the past and present, there are people who have chosen to take it a myth, its ugly consequences have begun to unfold, and there is every reason to believe that the earth as we know it may not hold for very long. Although various environmentalists and leaders world over continues to advocate for sustainable measures in a bid to prevent the impending catastrophe, the policies achieved as a result are better said than done. This can be blamed on human nature. Human beings are characterized by resentment, which often leads them to a destruction prowl (Scheler). Ressentiment is a result of repressed emotions and affects which, if not worked on, poisons the mind in its entirety leading to value delusions. The value judgment that results from this can be manifested in attitudes that have led humans to act in ways that have left the earth on the environmental and ecological crisis. This essay seeks to explore the role resentment has played in the environmental and ecological crisis in which the world finds itself.
Exposition of Max Scheler’s resentment
Max Scheler defines resentment as a situation whereby one causes harm to their mind by continuously repressing certain feelings and expressions, which are essentially normal by nature. This continued suppression leads one to be deluded about societal values and consequently err in judgment. The emotions that are often repressed include envy, malice, revenge, spite, and the instinct to detract.
One major source of resentment is the desire to revenge. The need for revenge arises from aggression. This means that someone must have done something to warrant some sort of revenge. Though one feels the need to revenge, this action must always be delayed to a later date either for a more satisfying outcome due to better timing or due to the inability to achieve instant gratification due to impotence. This is despite the immediate fury and hurt that one feels when they feel aggrieved. However, when one gets their revenge, these desire gets satisfied. This is also the case when one genuinely forgives the offender.
This is similar to the feeling of envy. A person feels envious of another when they feel that the other person possesses a value they should possess instead. One can gratify envy by working towards attaining this value that the other individual possesses. Once this is achieved, one gets satisfied and is free of envy.
However, unlike envy and desire for revenge, the desire to detract cannot be attached to a specific object. This desire focuses on trying to find weaknesses or faults of excellent people. This emotion finds gratification on focusing on the faults which are made obvious by the huge contrast created by the other excellent values.
However, these emotions, envy, impulse to detract, revenge, and spite can be released if one finds a way to vent them out. For instance, in the case of revenge, one can vent it out through truly forgiving the target or even finding a way of attaining vengeance. Additionally, one can release tension by admonishing the target. In cases of envy, one can find a way to acquire the envied possession by way of working for it, trading, or even getting involved in crime like stealing. Better still, if one becomes aware of their inability and accepts their impotence to revenge, satisfy their envy or act on their impulse to detract, then the tension created by these emotions is released.
However, these emotions and affects will result in resentment if they remain repressed as a result of an individual’s inability to work on them simply because one is weak physically or mentally or out of fear. “Through its very origin, resentment is therefore chiefly confined to those who serve and are dominated at the moment, who fruitlessly resent the sting of authority” (Scheler 6). Resentment is thus as a result of the realization that we lack in some aspect coupled with the impotence to release the emotions and affects created as a result of this realization.
A short exposition of Wallace-Well
The world is witnessing the effects of global warming unfold. History informs us that the planet characteristically undergoes extinction after every tens or hundreds million years wiping out almost all the living species with it (Wallace-Wells 7). In every of these periods but one, climate change has been the cause. In one of these instances for instance, an increase of temperature by 5 degrees Celsius increased the production of greenhouse gases that left almost every living thing on earth dead. However currently, the emission of carbon to the atmosphere has grown tenfold. The situation has worsened in the last three decades, even after a lot of global warming advocacy. Consequently the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is 30% more than any time in the last 800 years.
Although various strategies and policies have been applied to try and arrest the situation, very little in terms of damage control has been achieved so far. The signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the recent 2016 Paris Accords are some of the landmark agreements put in place to manage global warming. However these have not and will probably not achieve any significant success largely due to lack of commitment by everyone concerned. Since people know and even read about the effects of global warming in different parts of the world, most are assuming that either the process is too slow or that global warming is so universal, and hence it is other parts of the world that will be affected. Simply put we are a one generation kind of people whose thinking and actions are limited to the current happenings.
As a result of this, the devastating effects of global warming have begun to unfold. In the year 2017 for instance the earth planet witnessed three hurricanes that caused havoc in different parts of the world. The rainfall that followed Hurricane Harvey for instance when it occurred in Houston was described as one time in 500,000 years event. In the very same season, another Atlantic hurricane was responsible for over 45 million in South Asia as a result of floods after hitting Ireland. On top of these hurricanes, wildfires have been witnessed throughout the world in recent times as a result of global warming. An example of this is the unpredicted wildfire that destroyed a significant part of California a few years back. There is also a time in the recent past when temperatures in one city in Oman rose to up to 121 degrees Fahrenheit and consistently stayed above 108 degrees for the rest of the night. The heat was responsible for 54 fatalities in Canada and many more cases of wildfires world over. These are only a few of the many cases of effects of global warming. Other than these, global warming is likely to cause hunger, drain freshwater, kill oceans, poison breathing air, and collapse the world economy, among others. In fact, by the end of the century, some parts of the planet might be completely inhabitable.
The role of resentment in environmental and ecological crisis
Resentment rises from the repressed emotions that result from the impotence of a man’s ability to attain a value they covet. When these emotions such as envy, impulse to detract, desire for revenge find a way to be released, resentment is not attained. However, in cases where there is consistent repression of the charges evoked by these emotions, an individual can easily react to this by changing how they perceive values. Therefore one reaches a stage of resentment that is so strong due to their impotence to acquire a coveted value that the only remaining way is to develop different attitudes towards these coveted values unconsciously. Consequently, the resentment man will come with different values so that they take the place of those coveted values they are impotent to get. These attitudes often lead to error in judgment on the part of the resentment man leading to actions which, in the end, harm not only the man but the society as a whole. The error in judgment that has resulted from such attitudes is hence the reason we have the current environmental and ecological crisis. Resentment has always existed. However, the different features that characterize our current societal structure are the reasons that have led to the heightened magnitude of resentment that has subsequently compromised the planet through climate change. The accumulation of resentment in the very structure of society thus leads to the destruction of the environment leading to the current ecological crisis. These features are capitalism, equality, and religion.
Capitalism
Capitalism is a product of emotions that are often repressed, such as envy. Envy refers to the feeling of inability to obtain a coveted good because they are impotent. Envy is a common human nature since a man only experiences his value by weighing it against another’s (Scheler). A man, therefore, will compare every value in terms of its lowness or highness. This attitude results in two different ways depending on the type of man. The energetic man will become an arriviste, while the man of resentment will result from the weak kind (Scheler 21). An arriviste is the type of man that desires to be of better value than the rest. In their quest, they will covet something and make sure they get it by any means possible as long as they come up on top. Whereas value they covet a value, the attainment of this value is not their main goal, but it is rather a means of being better than anyone else. When society consists of many men of this kind, the result is a system of free competition, which is characteristic of capitalism (Scheler). It is no wonder that individuals will use coal and other harmful fuels to amass profits even though they are known to be detrimental to the environment (Wallace-Wells). The resentment man, on the other hand, will cause the same through an error in judgment that arises from their value delusion.
Equality
Equality heightens ressentiment, which in turn brings forth error in judgment as a result of delusional values.Democracy in the current society has brought about equality, which in turn makes each person feel entitled to any value, even when others are naturally impotent of attaining this value. In previous societies that were characterized by differences in class, people accepted their impotence to acquiring the coveted values hence did not end up in resentment. The previous socially stratified India was an example (Scheler). A man who therefore readily accepts another’s authority, talent, beauty, among others, will not be a resentment man. However, in the current society where equality is the norm, there is more resentment due to the feeling of entitlement to these values despite the obvious impotence that exists naturally in some men. The clamor to do anything to attain these coveted values will thus often lead to activities that harm the environment. Additionally, equality gives human entitlement to consume as much as they can to attain the gratification of being similar to those with values we covet. However, consumerist attitudes are not sustainable and have ended up pushing the environment to the brink of destruction. Conversely, resentment that arises from the repression that arises from impotence often acquire attitudes that arise from deluded values that end up harming the environment.
Religion
Religion is a key determiner of morality in society. Religion determines morality in the sense that it encourages repression of emotions and affects that arise from the discrepancy in values among men.Therefore, terms as goodness and humility will be used to justify impotence, while the hatred born out of resentment will be termed as obedience by religion (Scheler 9). In the long run, therefore, people suppress emotions such as envy, the impulse to revenge, and desire to detract due to the fear of God. Whereas these emotions will often find their way out through channels like genuine forgiveness, to some, it becomes burdensome and eventually leads to resentment, which is destructive.
Conclusion
The environmental and ecological crisis the earth finds itself in is due to human doing. Despite the impending dangers, humans can hardly help themselves in their destructive prowl because of resentment that exists in society. Whereas ressentiment has always been part of any culture, the various features that characterize the current one have heightened, making the effects of this resentment even more harmful to the environment. Such societal features include capitalism, equality, and religion.