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Chapter 2 - Varieties of Envy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2021

Sara Protasi
Affiliation:
University of Puget Sound, Washington
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Summary

Envy can either motivate to push oneself up to the level of the envied, or to pull the envied down to one’s own level. This leveling orientation has been explained in two ways. The first explanation focuses on the role of perceived control over the outcome: when the envier thinks they can level up, they will feel benign envy; when they think they cannot can level up, they will feel malicious envy. The second explanation is grounded in the notion of focus of concern: when the envier is concerned about the envied good, they are motivated to get it, and thus to level up; when they are concerned about their inferiority with the envied rival, they are motivated to take them down, and thus to level down. This chapter shows that these models of explanation need not be incompatible. The variables at play are independent and their intersection is responsible for the existence of four kinds of envy. It illustrates a paradigmatic case for each, providing a detailed analysis of the phenomenology, situational determinants, motivational structure, and typical behavioral outputs, and explains how they differ from nearby emotions and attitudes such as admiration, covetousness, and spite.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Varieties of Envy
  • Sara Protasi, University of Puget Sound, Washington
  • Book: The Philosophy of Envy
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009007023.004
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  • Varieties of Envy
  • Sara Protasi, University of Puget Sound, Washington
  • Book: The Philosophy of Envy
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009007023.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Varieties of Envy
  • Sara Protasi, University of Puget Sound, Washington
  • Book: The Philosophy of Envy
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009007023.004
Available formats
×