In 1914, Max Scheler Described Much of the Next 107 Years

Scheler identified a major motivator for social and political conflict

Max Scheler (No, there are no photos of him in which he doesn’t look grumpy, which apparently was not his personality at all)

In my previous article on German philosopher Max Scheler, I briefly summarized his philosophy of persons. He optimistically saw the possibilities for humanity if we could recognize the positive value of the individual person.

Scheler was also able to see the negative possibilities of human interaction. In 1914, near the outbreak of what came to be known as “World War I,” Scheler wrote the short book Ressentiment. Scheler describes the difference between actions from love that seek to improve others and actions from negative values that seek to diminish others.

According to Webster’s, “ressentiment” is an obscure word meaning “deep-seated resentment, frustration, and hostility accompanied by a sense of being powerless to express these feelings directly.”

Scheler defined ressentiment this way:

Ressentiment is an incurable, persistent feeling of hating and despising which occurs in certain individuals and groups. It takes its root in equally incurable ‘impotencies’ or weaknesses that those subjects suffer…