Thesis advisor: Gregory Fried / The topic of resentment has experienced a resurgence recently in various fields (philosophy of race, moral psychology, transitional justice, critical theory and political philosophy). The republication and English translation of Jean Améry's work Jenseits von Schuld und Sühne: Bewältigungsversuche eines Überwältigten [Beyond Guilt and Atonement: The Effort to Overcome by One Who Has Been Overcome], better known now as At the Mind's Limit: Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and its Realities, is in large part credited for such a resurgence. Much of the literature takes Améry's chapter on “Resentments” as being geared towards establishing an “embodied ethic of resistance” which defies the “hegemony” of forgiveness in the Western tradition. What I argue is that Améry's own usage of the term implies a plurality of meanings, which itself forces us to go beyond this discussion. As we explore each facet of his Resentments, we come to see that it is only through a larger conceptual framework that we can make sense of their plurality and as well as what is ultimately at stake for Améry in them. Through doing so we can see that Améry's “resentments” are much more oriented towards establishing what Arendt defines precisely as “forgiveness”: an action which requires a radical re-conception of time and a re-presentation of the past within the present, directed towards the future. This dissertation will show how accepting the virtues of Améry's Resentment does not require forgoing forgiveness as a political concept, even in the context of genocide. In contradistinction to some of the literature on Arendt, it will also show that even in such circumstances, when punishment is impossible or inadequate, the virtues of Arendt's conception of forgiveness still shine forth. In fact, counter to what we might initially assume to be a limit of forgiveness, it is in the context of genocide that we can see the real possibility of “power”—as Arendt defines it within the context of the potential of people coming together to create something new—through the process of “forgiveness” writ large on the world stage. The limits of forgiveness come to appear as the conditions of its possibility. We will illustrate how Resentment and “forgiveness” in fact exist in a complementary relationship which binds them together. Améry's “resentments” manifest themselves as a call for repentance, but also in the realization of a need for such a call to be answered in turn. This call is not limited to the capacity to punish. We will conclude with an exploration of how ‘Resentments,’ ultimately guided towards reconciliation and processes of communal forgiveness, can be understood as serving a vital function in contemporary contexts of post-conflict and post-genocide societies. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

In Forgiveness and Responsibility, I investigate the nature and norms of moral forgiveness. The standard account of forgiveness claims that forgiving is (or at least requires) the overcoming of resentment. I argue, however, that there is no single way to forgive and so no non-trivial set of necessary and sufficient conditions for forgiveness. I identify the prototypical manifestation of forgiveness, using it to explain the diversity of our forgiveness practices. Prototypical manifestations of forgiveness are cases of directed forgiveness, in which one takes up a certain kind of forgiving attitude towards a wrongdoer and overtly manifests that attitude, most notably by a speech act. This speech act crucially involves the victim relinquishing certain of her rights to blame the wrongdoer, as well as releasing the wrongdoer from certain kinds of personal obligations to the victim. Other modes of forgiveness are understood as extensions of the prototype to the extent that they share either the interior, psychological features or the exterior, behavioral features of directed forgiveness. I conclude by arguing that in order to preserve certain intuitive views about the norms bearing on forgiveness, our best theories of forgiveness should hold that: (1) forgiving is prototypically under one's voluntary control; (2) wrongdoers cannot obligate their victims to forgive them; and (3) forgiving alters the norms of interaction between victim and wrongdoer.

Recent racial attitude research has focused on whites' increasing support for the principles of racial equality and lack of support for programs meant to bring about racial equality. As one explanation for this gap some researchers have hypothesized that a new form of symbolic racism with origins in early-learned feelings of individualism and antiblack affect is taking the place of traditional prejudice. According to symbolic racism theory, whites oppose programs such as affirmative action out of moral resentment toward blacks for not living up to traditional protestant values. However, longitudinal studies of racial attitudes continue to focus on whites increased support for the principles of equality. No study has focused on symbolic racism over time. Using data from the American National Election Studies I analyze symbolic racism among whites from the years 1986-2000 by decomposing the time trend into its attitudinal change and cohort replacement components. Results of the analyses support the view that symbolic racism is not decreasing, and has actually increased slightly since 1986. Results of the analysis do not support the view that symbolic racism has origins in early-learned feelings such as antiblack affect. In fact, the effect of antiblack affect on symbolic racism is decreasing over time as symbolic racism is increasing. Based on this finding, an alternative conceptualization of symbolic racism that places the origins of racial prejudice in competition between groups for status and not in feelings and emotions is offered. / Master of Science

Envy is a painful emotion that can negatively impact one’s self-worth. It is also a shameful, socially undesirable emotion, implying both inferiority and hostility. Some scholars suggest that these features of envy lead to a need to cope with the emotion. Thus, over time, envy tends to be transformed into more socially acceptable responses such as resentment or dislike. The present study tested this claim. First, envy was manipulated by asking participants to read an article containing an interview with either a high- or low-envy target. The second article manipulated the likeability of the target by varying whether or not he or she made an arrogant statement. Finally, a third article indicated that the target had suffered a misfortune. Although, as predicted, envy decreased, the manipulation of likeability did not affect this decrease. Consistent with predictions, resentment increased after the second article and this was more likely when the target was dislikeable than when the target was likeable. Finally, the participants felt greater schadenfreude when the dislikeable target suffered than when the likeable target suffered and marginally more schadenfreude when the target was more enviable. Clearly, envy dissipated over time, but further research is needed to determine precisely why.

Making sense of anguish is an important process leading to personal growth, development, and overall meaning making. Today's quarterlife students (students between the ages of 20-25) may face a variety of traumatic life events that influence how they grow as individuals and are able to move forward from these experiences. I examine several topics that many quarterlife students experience during these challenging years. As a gay identified individual, I examine aspects of `coming out' and the reluctance of blooming into the individual that I wanted to be. I examine the impact of resenting those individuals who may have hurt you and the ultimate growth that results from the pursuit of forgiveness. I then examine the importance of not sacrificing who you are within romantic relationships, and how being in abusive relationships can inhibit one's ability to be happy. Lastly, I close with how despite all of the traumatic experiences one must overcome, we all have the ability to be happy and construct positive meaning from such times of anguish. Written within a scholarly personal narrative methodology, my thesis examines several generational life events that have the potential to cause anguish, and how one can harness personal growth and meaning making from traumatic past experiences.

The purpose of this study was to design a valid and reliable instrument that contains original scales measuring learning resistance behaviors and cognitions, along with four other hypothetically related factors, resentment, disinterest, overconfidence, and perceived social norms. This process entailed constructing valid items for each of the five included scales; testing those scales for reliability using internal consistency analysis; and validating those scales using external criteria. The multiple scales were tested for intra-correlations to support or disconfirm a series of hypotheses reflecting the hypothetical relationships between learning resistance and the other four included factors. The resultant instrument contains five reliable scales, and the Openness Scale shows a strong negative correlation with the resistance scale, providing some criterion-related validity. Very strong positive correlations exist between all included scales, which suggest the need to provide additional indicators of discriminant validity in future validation studies on this instrument.

The purpose of this project is to develop a theory of collective resentment. Collective resentment, on my view, is resentment that is felt and expressed by individuals in response to a perceived threat to a collective to which they belong. This is particularly important for understanding resentments that arise from social vulnerability, resentments which are often about membership within a particular social group. In this thesis, I develop my theory of collective resentment and apply it to understand the resentments of indigenous and settler Canadians in response to the Indian Residential Schools. I then explore the relationship between resentment and different kinds of responsibility, including the responsibility to relinquish inappropriate resentment and the responsibility to give resentments uptake. I conclude that focusing on the resentments that persist in indigenous-settler relations, and specifically the collective resentments that dominate the political landscape, brings us a lot further in understanding how to move from hostility and hopelessness toward peaceful coexistence.

This thesis is an exploration of the shame that inheres in not being able to self-admire. I call this incapacity to admire oneself ontological shame, and I argue that it is the source of the masquerades, concealments and negative emotions that surround the pursuit and defence of a self-esteem founded on an impoverished form of pride. I argue that there is a radical asymmetry between our admiration and esteem for others and how we evaluate our own sense of self-worth. Where admiration at its highest pitch is the wonderful agape experience of apprehending preciousness in others, our own sense of self-worth is limited to experiences of pride and other forms of self-affirmation; none of which allow us the joy of seeing ourselves as wonders in the world. Because we can admire and want to be admired, not being able to self-admire amounts to a limitation of a sort which carries with it a primordial resentment against life itself. It is largely how we respond to our ontological limitation and to our resentment that determines the positive or negative manner in which we interact with others, and whether or not we are likely to have an envious or humble disposition. In the first three chapters I lay the groundwork for the main argument of the thesis by highlighting the difficulties self-esteem theorists have in agreeing upon the value of ‘high’ self-esteem, introduce the relation between self-esteem and shame, argue for a distinction between self-esteem and public esteem, and provide an account of the gift-exchange nature of admiration which explains why we cannot self-admire. In the central chapters I focus on shame; on acts of concealment that can be either appropriate covering for, or deceitful denial of our ontological limitation; how self-worth is created through a reconciliation to shame, and why the ‘self-act dissociation’ theories of guilt fail to capture the shame attached to ‘being guilty’ of a wrongdoing. In Chapters Seven and Eight I examine envy, first in how it can be disguised as moral resentment; how it differs to admiration in its role in emulation, and finally how as a disposition it stands in stark contrast to humility. It is in humility that we grasp the benefits associated with our own incapacity to self-admire through our need to interact and exchange gifts with others.

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Orientador: Sinésio Ferraz Bueno / Resumo: Aprofundando-se nas análises do empobrecimento da razão e na falta de possibilidades do indivíduo em desenvolver uma autorreflexão crítica, Theodor W. Adorno em seus escritos de 1960, intitulado como Teoria da Semiformação, nos apresenta o conceito de formação, que perpassa toda a época iluminista até chegar à contemporaneidade, na qual se transforma em semiformação. Diante das reflexões precedentes, Adorno chama a nossa atenção para um fato psicossocial dinâmico, o fenômeno do ressentimento, que funcionaria como um verniz formativo, tendo como pressuposto o ódio pelo que se mostra diferenciado e, ligado ao declínio da individualidade, intensificaria a incapacidade de autorreflexão, tanto no sentido intelectual quanto no sentido emocional. Assim, diante de tais revelações, alguns anos depois, em seus escritos sobre educação, o filósofo enfatizou a necessidade de elaboração do passado no campo educativo, entendida como compreensão e dissolução desses elementos de frieza subjetiva. Visto como uma tarefa ética o ato de elaborar o passado fundamenta essencialmente os cuidados com a memória pressupondo a autorreflexão crítica. Desse modo entendendo a semiformação como esfera do ressentimento, o declínio do indivíduo como seu principal motivador e as interações entre passado e presente os objetivos do presente estudo é investigar os mecanismos subjetivos do movimento de ressentir-se e, por meio da sua relação com o campo educativo, as possibilidades preventivas contra tal afeto. / Abstract: Deepening in the analysis of the empowerment of reason and the individual's lack of possibilities to develop a critical self-reflection, Theodor W. Adorno in his 1960 writings, entitled Theorie der Halbbildung, introduces us to the concept of formation, which runs throughout the Enlightenment era until contemporaneity, in which it transforms into semiformation. Observing the preceding reflections, Adorno calls our attention to a dynamical psychosocial fact, the phenomenon of resentment, which would work as a formative varnish, having as premise the hatred for what is different and, tied to the decline of individuality, would intensify the incapacity of self-reflection, both in the intellectual as in the emotional sense. Thus, in the face of such revelations, a few years later, in his writings on education, the philosopher emphasized the need for elaboration of the past on the educational field, understood as comprehension and disintegration of the elements of subjective coldness. Seen as an ethical task, the act of elaboration of the past underlies essentially the care for memory, assuming the critical self-reflection. This way, understanding the semiformation as part of the resentment sphere, the individual decline as its main motivator and the interactions between past and present the purpose of the present study is to investigate the mechanisms of feeling resentful, and through its relationship with the educational field, the possibilities of preventing such drive. / Mestre