Envy: Virtue or Vice?
Seven Deadly Sins Series, Part I
I. Introduction: The Green-Eyed Monster
The spectrum of human emotions is a common subject of intellectual inquiry. Their complex and morally ambiguous nature invites rigorous research and debate, especially when we seek the silver lining in those that are, on their face, essentially negative or destructive. For example, sadness is essential for the grieving process. Anger, a feeling that we commonly associate with irrationality and violence, is evolutionarily designed to trigger our fight response, inspiring us to protect ourselves and our own. It also pushes us to gain control of our environment. In short, it fuels our life-positive drive for power.
There is one emotion, however, that has retained an almost categorically negative reputation (and has thus far evaded exoneration) in both popular and intellectual circles. That feeling is none other than envy.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes envy as, “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. In addition, many philosophers have included the caveat that this bitter feeling also entails the wish that the perceived rival was deprived of whatever is desired by the feeling subject.[1] The popular view of its reprehensibility is very much linked to the begrudging, vindictive behavior that it motivates. It often plays a role in thefts and vengeance, and the caustic resentment that produces is both a key player in the breakdown of social relationships and a persistent threat to socio-political stability. To feel envy is to feel as if one’s own heart has been poisoned.
Cross-Cultural and Religious Views
Our overwhelmingly low opinion of envy is, unsurprisingly, reflected and reinforced by our religious traditions. All of the world’s major religions condemn the sentiment; In Islam, Hasad, as it is called, is considered a disease of the soul, a wicked response to the blessings that Allah conferred unto others.[2] Buddhists categorize it as one of the five Kleshas, or causes of suffering, which must be combated with Mudita, or “sympathetic joy”.[3] In Hinduism, jealousy and envy are lumped together in a wicked state of mind called Matsarya, one of the six internal enemies.[4] Judaism and Christianity also consider envy “an evil practice and a cause of disorder.”[5] It is famously listed as one of the seven deadly sins. The coveting of the property and wives of others is also forbidden by God in the Ten Commandments.
The popular notoriety of envy as a universally wicked trait, transcends religious bounds, manifesting in popular superstitions. Perhaps the most well-known is “the evil eye”, an envious gaze believed to have the power to cause harm or misfortune to those its gaze is fixed upon. This widespread belief has roots as far back as ancient Sumer, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece,[6] and reaches as far East as South Asia. Ronnie James Dio, the late rockstar and frontman of the bands Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and Dio, who popularized the “devil horns” hand gesture, explained that the point of the sign was to ward off the effects of the Evil Eye, a practice he picked up from his Italian heritage.
Many philosophers and writers join religious and superstitious clamor in the onslaught.” Socrates derided it as “the ulcer of the soul.” Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, writes with palpable contempt, that “Envy is that passion which views with malignant dislike the superiority of those who are really entitled to all the superiority they possess.” According to Ayn Rand, the author of Altas Shrugged, envy is “hatred of the good for being good.”
The pioneer of German Idealism, Immanuel Kant, in his signature long-winded manner, describes envy as,
“a propensity to view the well-being of others with distress, even though it does not detract from one’s own. [It is] a reluctance to see our own well-being overshadowed by another’s because the standard we use to see how well off we are is not the intrinsic worth of our own well-being but how it compares with that of others. [Envy] aims, at least in terms of one’s wishes, at destroying others’ good fortune.”
The philosophical opinion of envy is overwhelmingly negative. However, some philosophers, such as Soren Kierkegaard and Aristotle, take a more nuanced, or even positive view of envy. Kierkegaard seems to describe envy as a state of mind when the ego gets in the way of admiration:
“Envy is secret admiration. An admirer who feels that he cannot become happy by abandoning himself to it chooses to be envious of that which he admires. So he speaks another language wherein that which he actually admires is a trifle, a rather stupid, insipid, peculiar, and exaggerated thing. Admiration is happy self-surrender; envy is unhappy self-assertion.”
And while Aristotle observed that envy was, “pain felt at the good fortune of others”, he argued that this sensation could motivate people to strive harder to better themselves.
However, such nuanced thoughts amount to whispers amidst the resounding roar of condemnation directed at our inner green monster. The long trail of crimes, sins, and outright unethical or immoral behavior committed in its name seem to thrust it beyond the grasp of redemption. However, in his article, envy will have its day in court.
The Evolutionary Roots of Envy
What is the purpose of this ostensibly corrosive emotion? Could it be some tragic misstep in evolution? Or perhaps a vestigial component of our species that has outstayed its usefulness. Maybe the only reason that humanity can tolerate this malicious impulse is that, much like the backaches and atrophied musculature that accompanied the development of bipedalism and increased brainpower, envy is the price paid for adaptations of which the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs. True envy, after all, could only manifest under conditions of self-awareness and comparative reasoning within a sociopolitical milieu.
Just as in religion, philosophy, and culture, science is not without those who categorically condemn our emerald-hued gadfly. Gary Bernhard, Ed.D. and Kalman Glantz, Ph.D., two interdisciplinary scholars, refer to envy as, “a sleazy, secret, shame- inducing vice, properly vilified as one of the seven deadly sins.”[7] According to them, envy may have served an evolutionary role in maintaining equality in primitive hunter-gatherer societies, but is, like our wisdom teeth, nothing more than a harmful vestige of our past.
Bernhard and Glantz point out that envy once served a vital social function that put a brake on greed and helped social groups. In these groups, equal distribution of resources was the rule, and if someone say, carved out too large a piece of meat for themselves, they were sure to face objections from the rest of their band.
Once the agricultural revolution took off and societies became stratified, however, envy was looked upon with increased disapproval, reflecting its anti-social effects outside of paleolithic conditions. Our myths, legends, and folklore express the popular view of envy as a “parasite of comparison”. Bernhard and Glantz minimize envy’s role as a motivator to work harder, asserting that its chief consequence is “an internal stew of resentment and bile”, that destroys confidence and cripples self-esteem. Moreover, they argue that American inclinations feed into this pathology. No doubt, our competitive and materialistic proclivities are primary drivers, facilitated by a well-structured marketing industry that excels in manufacturing desire and stripping away any oversights in our hyper-comparative perspectives.
Has envy degenerated into the social toxin and psychological depravity that Bernhard and Glantz consider it to be?
Envy certainly leads to a plethora of destructive behaviors, ranging from workplace sabotage to ruthless political upheavals. Whether Johnny got the promotion Billy thought he deserved, or when one social class reaps the lion’s share of resources that another feels they earned, the result is often characterized by violence, sabotage, and deceit. The feeling of being bested by a rival in a contest for a prized possession is enough to inspire action, and often vicious nature of the envier’s aggression is often justified by the very factors that tend to aggravate it. Does the subject identify their rival as a peer? Or perhaps the outperformed subject feels that the playing field is slanted against their favor, or that they have suffered a setback that has enabled an otherwise unworthy competitor to gain the upper hand?[8][9] All of these factors play a role in the emergence, intensification, and reinforcement of envious impulses.
Many of these factors are based on subjective perceptions, and it is often the case that a disadvantaged individual not only tacks on an exaggerated value to the thing desired, but also adopts an unduly low impression of their rival, and fabricates an elaborate story to oneself about how unfair the situation is to override internalized social prohibitions and green-light actions that would otherwise produce overwhelming sensations of guilt and anxiety. It is completely possible for a subject who experiences no observable disadvantages from another to conjure up some belief that they suffer from some unfairness at the hands of their counterpart and transform them into the object of their animosity.
Given its ubiquitous, arbitrary, and subjective nature, envy’s power to direct human thoughts, beliefs, and actions appears to be boundless.
Envy: A Misunderstood Ally?
The poor processing of envy has an excellent track record of motivating these very behaviors. But is this a misstep of evolution, or a flaw in our mindsets? Can covetous impulses be harnessed for better aims? The immediate psychological effect of envy is to alert us to comparative economic disadvantages and notify us of our own underperformance. Studies have shown that individuals experiencing feelings of envy exhibit improved memory and sharpened sensitivity toward social surroundings and potential competitors. They also outperformed test subjects that lacked a green eye.[10] As Aristotle once noted, it can be a powerful motivator for attaining our own goals, and despite long-standing stigmas that minimized or overlooked this silver-lining, envy has a significant untapped utility that reaches far beyond the paleolithic scarcity-plagued conditions of our ancestors.
This is especially true of those of us with feelings of high self-worth and intense appetites for power and domination. Self-esteem, while encouraged as a positive trait, can fuel envy because those who have it feel a greater sense of entitlement. When coupled with weakness, we have the recipe for a brand of viperine, under-handed malignancy that exemplifies the ressentiment Nietzsche discusses at length.
Yet, those who cultivate strength construct a foundation where self-worth can rest unphased by tempests of defeat and downpours of injury. The problem with our ideas of self-esteem today isn’t that it’s wrong to place value upon ourselves, but that it’s psychologically unhealthy to pin those perceptions on delusions, or worse, upon a belief in the value of self-love for its own sake. True self-respect arises from a sense of growing power and the successful defense of one’s territory and convictions. Genuine self-respect is inextricably linked to strength. Anything else is a counterfeit, imitation, or even a mockery of real strength. It is superficial and brittle, and shatters against the rigors of life.
Conclusion: Embrace Envy as a Manifestation of the Will to Power
There is a lot of debate about “benign” and “malignant” envy. Those in favor suggest that they are two manifestations of the same coin. However, I would argue that it is not the feeling itself that is different. Envy itself is not “benign” or “malignant”. Envy is simply a call to power. It is how we process this feeling that is benign or malignant. Do we choose to be devoured by our feelings of inferiority? Or do we heed its calls, show gratitude to our fortunate competitors, redouble our efforts, and charge headlong toward our objectives? After all, why take vengeance upon more fortunate peers who have done us no harm? Haven’t those very people, by highlighting our unfulfilled desires, done us a great service? Haven’t they lifted the fog and given us a clear view of our target?
Envy can be a loyal ally and a powerful motivator. Its greater propensity among the ranks of the proud and self-assured suggests that it is not an essential trait of the weak that is best suppressed, as some philosophers have suggested, but an emotion arising from the recognition of failing to secure what one desires or deserves. Envy itself, like all emotions, is neither fundamentally good, nor bad. In strong people, it kick-starts motivation and inspires effort, leading to greater success in increasing power and securing objectives. Weakness is the real flaw because the real or perceived inability to realize goals causes the embittered subject to convert their frustrated drives into resentment, which they lay upon the heads of their more fortunate rivals. Instead of responding to the pangs of envy by working to make themselves better, they choose to drag their perceived superiors down to their level.[11] This is what leads to the duplicitous malignancy that humans have attached to envy.
The lesson? Like people themselves, envy is not inherently good or evil, just feral and unrefined. Those who cultivate strength will be able to tame this wild impulse and turn it into a loyal companion.
[1] Envy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
[2] Diseases of the Soul: Envy (Hasad) | Al-Islam.org
[3] Overcoming the Poison of Jealousy with Mudita, "Sympathetic Joy"! How can joyful Tara, and other methods, help us overcome the dangerous klesha of Envy? - Buddha Weekly: Buddhist Practices, Mindfulness, Meditation
[4] Ideals and Values/Mātsarya (Jealousy) The Sixth Internal Enemy - Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia
[5] What Is Envy vs. Jealousy in the Bible?
[6] The Power Behind Evil Eye: Beliefs, Superstition And Protection - CureVigor
[7] Twilight of the Emotions: Why Envy Evolved | Psychology Today United Kingdom
[8] Can Envy Be a Virtue? Taming the Green-eyed Monster at Work - Knowledge at Wharton
[9] One can draw an obvious parallel from today’s political atmosphere in the United States. Much of the bitterness stemming from racial inequality, for example, stems from the belief that black Americans have been barred from equal status, wealth, and opportunities due to historical setbacks like slavery, segregation, and mass incarceration, the effects of which persist in our social system to this day. Opponents of racial reform often dismiss these grievance on the grounds that they simply stem from feelings of envy toward the comparatively good fortune of present-day whites. Yet, if we look at envy itself as a natural emotion independent of conventional moral value, we must ask if such feelings are justified.
[10] Envy: The Feeling Can Help Us Even When It Hurts | Scientific American
[11] Envy + weakness, thus produces a destructive manifestation of the drive for equality. Efforts to undermine the comparative advantages of others are often cloak in the guise of an ostensibly benevolent desire for a more equitable distribution of resources.