Envy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See Envy (disambiguation) for other uses.

Envy is an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it.”<ref name='Parrott,Smith,1993>Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing what Miguel Miranda thinks it really means. the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 906-920.</ref> At the core of envy seems to be an upward social comparison, that threatens a person's self-esteem: another person has something that the envier considers to be important to have. If the other person is perceived to be similar as the envier, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envier that it just as well could have been him or her who had the desired object. <ref name='Salovey,Rodin,1984>Salovey, P., & Rodin, J. (1984). Some antecedents and consequences of social comparison jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 780-792.</ref><ref name='Elster,1991>Elster, J. (1991). Envy in social life. In R. J. Zeckhauser (Ed.), Strategy and choices (pp. 49-82). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.</ref>.

In some cultures, envy is often associated with the color green, as in "green with envy". The phrase "green-eyed monster" refers to an individual whose current actions appear motivated by envy. This is based on a line from Shakespeare's Othello.

[edit] Envy in religion

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins in the Catholic tradition, and is specifically mentioned in the Book of Proverbs. It is considered sinful because envious people ignore their own blessings, and focus on others' status rather than their own spiritual growth.

Envy is often confused with the Deadly Sin of covetousness, or greed, a desire for material wealth (which may or may not belong to others). Envy in its covetous form is forbidden by the Ten Commandments in the Bible.

[edit] Envy in Behavior

Hatred is often envy in disguise. Envy knows no gratitude. Envy cannot be pacified. These statements describe a few of Envy's "traits".

Envy is characterized by the Machiavellian machinations of the internally weak, self-loathing, unduly proud and peasant minded. Enviers cross all social, economic, educational and professional boundaries. Envy is found among the greats in history, laborers, elite, siblings, co-workers, "friends", individuals, academia, groups, peoples and nations.

Biblical examples demonstrate Envy’s deceptive, merciless, and malignant personality. Centuries later, secular scholars and philosophers (e.g., Aristotle and Plato) discovered Envy's true nature the will to completely destroy the envied. Due to Envy’s deeply deceptive nature, too often the envied is unaware of being envied; and so, are at a genuine loss as to why a person or group would vent "inexplicable" cruelty on them. Exacerbating matters, the cruelty is regularly denied directly and indirectly by the envier. This renders witnesses to the envy dynamic ignorant to the truth as well.

Enviers often seize the very questioning of their actions to malign the envied; thereby laying the foundation for wider, subtle and blatant, misrepresentation, accusation, and attacks upon the reasoning faculties and character of the envied. The envier’s intent is always to destroy the envied, to the envier’s comfort and delight, since the envied inadvertently aggravates the enviers deepest inferiority feelings.

Tragically, the envied who doesn’t realize Envy’s nature, or that they are being envied (most don't) is at huge risk for permanent loss and devastation since envy is parent to history’s greatest atrocities and scapegoating.

Examples: Christ, Joan of Arc, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Holocaust

[edit] Biblical Examples

General references: (Job 5:2,3; Psalms 37:1,7;49:16;73:3,17-20;112:10) Cain, of Abel (Genesis 4:4-8) [Murder] Philistines, of Isaac (Genesis 26:14) [Theft, resentment] Leah, of Rachel (Genesis 30:15) [Hatred, resentment, competition] Laban's sons, of Jacob (Genesis 31:1) [Hatred of success] Joseph's brethren, Joseph (Genesis 37:4-11,19,20; Acts 7:9) [Envies favor, will to murder, lie, sabotage success, destroy innocent] Miriam and Aaron, of Moses (Numbers 12:1-10) [Pride, accusation] Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, of Moses (Numbers 16:3; Psalms 106:16-18) [Wide slandering, criticism, fomenting hostilities based on falsehoods, recruiting others against the envied] King Saul, of King David (1 Samuel 18:8,9,29;20:31) [Ingratitude, hatred, murder] Haman, of Mordecai (Esther 5:13) [Wholesale slander, fomenting violence and hatred to envied's destruction] The princes of Babylon, of Daniel (Daniel 6:4) [Attempts to destroy professionally, personally, by plot, undermining, sabotage, and deception]

Source: Bible Gateway *emphasis added

Also, The story of Naboth's Vineyard and the actions of King Ahab (1 Kings 21) and the desire of Israel to be 'like the nations around them' in 1 Samuel 8 are significant incidents

[edit] Envy and a sense of injustice

There is a possibility and/or theory that states of envy can mutate into a sense of concern for maintaining justice; though this is assumed to be for a sense of justice that only surrounds ones self. There is no evidence of such a sense of injustice being for the concern of others, but no proof of it not being so either since this is a mutated emotion we are talking about. It is often said by the individuals that are envious of another (particularly children) "That's not fair!" when someone else has something that they wish they could have. Curiously, people do not tend to think of justice to the other being of priority but instead only think of the fact that the other person is being selfish as priority (such priority in its self could be thought of unjust). It is not strictly true that envy is selfish in all cases, since it can be purely the need to have what the other person has due to a true need and no malice in this case would be directed at the other who is envied; though one has to take caution that they could be malicious and selfish.

Envy and Justice

[edit] See also

• Class envy
• Jealousy
• Envy-free
• Scapegoat
• Rival

[edit] External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• The Ethics of Hate III: Envy by Graham Strachan

[edit] References

<references />

cs:Závist da:Misundelse de:Neid es:Envidia eo:Envio fr:Envie io:Envidio it:Invidia ja:嫉妬 pl:Zazdrość pt:Inveja ru:Зависть simple:Envy