Loanword Series: Ressentiment

Loanword Series: Ressentiment

Ver. 9.0

1. Pronunciation: ressentiment

2. Meaning

Ressentiment refers to a complex emotion held by the weaker party (the weak) toward the stronger party, when the former lacks the power to counter the latter through action. The term "weak" here is understood in a broader sense, encompassing not only social and economic status but also a lack of physical and mental energy or capacity for action. Its characteristics are as follows:

• It is an emotion that mixes jealousy, resentment, hatred, and a desire for revenge against the strong, but the weak are unable to translate these feelings into direct action.

• By being suppressed and ruminated upon repeatedly within, the emotion becomes distorted and serves as a driving force for creating unique values.

• Specifically, it triggers a "transvaluation of values" where the values held by the strong (wealth, power, talent, health, etc.) are deemed "evil," while the weaknesses held by the weak (poverty, obedience, humility, etc.) are deemed "good." Through this, they attempt to achieve victory on a spiritual level rather than through action.

3. Etymology and Source

The word ressentiment originates from the French word "ressentiment." It is a combination of "re-" (again) and "sentir" (to feel), referring to a state of repeatedly feeling and ruminating in one's heart over humiliations or grudges received in the past.

It was the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who established this word as a philosophical concept. In his book "On the Genealogy of Morality" (1887), ressentiment was discussed in detail as a key to explaining the origins of Western Christian morality. Nietzsche concluded that this morality was a "slave morality" born from the spiritual desire for revenge against the strong by the weak who had been defeated in the real world.

4. Synonyms and Opposing Concepts

By comparing concepts that are similar to or the opposite of ressentiment, its essence becomes clearer.

Synonyms

• Jealousy: An emotion of envying the excellent things others possess. Ressentiment includes jealousy, but it is characterized by the accumulation of resentment and powerlessness, leading to the creation of new values.

• Sentimental: A self-contained sentimentality immersed in sadness or nostalgia. While ressentiment is a "grudge" harboring aggression toward others, being sentimental is a non-aggressive emotion like "sorrow."

Opposing Concepts

• Noble Spirit (Master Morality) and the Overman (Übermensch): In Nietzsche's argument, the "noble spirit (master morality)" that creates its own values is depicted in contrast to the "slave morality" based on ressentiment. As an extension of this, in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," he presents the "Overman" as an ideal image that can be interpreted as an existence that has overcome weaknesses, including nihilism and ressentiment.

• Romance (Romanticism): In this article, for convenience, Romanticism is organized as "active pursuit of ideals" and contrasted with ressentiment. While ressentiment is a reactive resentment that justifies defeat in reality, the spirit of romance referred to here can be positioned as the opposite, as an active passion that acts upon the world to realize ideals.

5. Application Examples

Ressentiment can be found in various situations, from history to modern society.

• Historical Example (The Establishment of Christian Morality)

  • Situation: In the ancient Roman Empire, the powerful aristocratic class dominated society, and many people were placed in a powerless position as the ruled.

  • Action: According to Nietzsche, the ruled created a new moral system that labeled the 'strength,' 'wealth,' and 'pride' held by the rulers as 'evil,' while defining their own 'poverty,' 'humility,' and 'patience' as 'good.'

  • Implication: Nietzsche depicts this process as a 'genealogy of values' rather than empirical historical description, and this example shows that ressentiment can become a spiritual support for socially oppressed people and a powerful energy capable of overturning existing value systems from their foundations.

• Modern Example (Online 'Flaming' Phenomena on Social Media)

  • Situation: With the spread of social media, everyone has become able to catch a glimpse of the lives of celebrities and successful people.

  • Action: Some people harbor jealousy and dissatisfaction toward the wealth and fame possessed by successful individuals. They then seize upon trivial words or actions by that person, brandish justice by calling them 'immoral,' and attempt to vent their own frustrations by launching collective attacks anonymously.

  • Implication: This teaches us that in modern society, ressentiment is easily amplified on the soil of anonymity and can manifest in destructive forms, where individuals seek to gain a temporary sense of moral superiority by disparaging others.

6. Modern Significance: The 'Second Rebellion' of Human History and Nietzsche's Ressentiment

The concept of ressentiment provides us, as we live in the modern age, with a multi-layered perspective for deeply examining ourselves and society.

• It serves as a tool for self-analysis: It provides an opportunity to objectively re-examine where the strong feelings of dissatisfaction or jealousy one holds toward someone or something come from. It helps determine whether those emotions will become energy for personal growth or a destructive force that merely disparages others.

• It becomes a key to deeply understanding social phenomena: Ressentiment offers a highly effective perspective for analyzing the structure of negative emotions swirling in modern society, such as online harassment, hate toward specific groups, or dissatisfaction with a society defined by inequality.

• A mirror reflecting Nietzsche himself (one interpretation): The most interesting aspect is the perspective that Nietzsche's philosophy itself is a grand expression of ressentiment. This is based on a view that treats the history of human spirit as a single growth process. If the long era of theism is considered the era of 'paternal authority,' then rationalism and atheism since the modern era can be positioned as a 'second adolescent rebellion' attempting autonomy from that patriarchy.In this context, Nietzsche was truly the standard-bearer of that rebellious period. The very act of him thoroughly attacking Christian morality, which held absolute authority in European society at the time, as 'the resentment of the weak,' and establishing a new value called the 'Übermensch' in its place, can be read as the very structure of ressentiment-driven value transformation that begins with an intense NO to a 'transcendent father'.
  

• Implications for the modern human psyche: This perspective of a 'second adolescent rebellion' suggests that the motivation for modern people to conclude that 'God is dead' may not only be a purely rational choice, but also have psychological aspects such as 'wanting to protect one's autonomy' or 'wanting to escape the fear of losing everything.'As a result of denying the massive authority of God, we have come to depend on countless small idols such as 'science,' 'the market,' and 'public opinion,' and we may be in a new kind of unfreedom, far from the 'Übermensch' Nietzsche dreamed of.

7. Conclusion

Ressentiment is not only a tool for analyzing the hearts of others, but also a mirror that reflects the spirit of Nietzsche himself and of us living in the modern age. When we strongly deny something and advocate for new values, this concept sharply questions each of us: does that impulse come from truly active self-affirmation, or are we being moved by ressentiment—a 'rebellion' against an invisible authority?