[Bups-dis] The Nature of Hatred

[Ashley Blattner]

Dear Philosophers,



This is my first BUPS-DIS contribution so I can never be quite sure whether
it will provoke thought and stimulate debate in fellow philosophers but I
hope it whets your appetite!



This is a topic that has plagued my mind over the past couple of weeks. I'm
extremely interested in what others have to say on the topic as I am not
quite sure myself what conclusions to draw from the subject as I have
encountered several problems in discussing the nature of hatred.



Problem 1: Definition



Getting the obvious out of the way, hate is an emotion. As the true meaning
behind all emotions is subjective and differs from person to person, this
makes obtaining an objective definition for any of them extremely difficult.
But nevertheless hatred is an emotion that everyone has felt at some point
in their life. So with so many people feeling it there must be a common
ground somewhere, which is where I have hit my first problem. Is there a
common ground and if so how/where can we draw the line and call it "hate"
instead of "dislike"?



Problem 2: Rationality



Pretty much all our emotions are reactionary and have some form of reason
behind them (well-founded or not). But to say that hate is rational would be
to say that our hatred for something or someone is somehow justified, and
there are plenty of cases in history where the general consensus is that
hatred wasn't justified (The Holocaust for example). Which begs the question
as to how rational is hatred? If hatred is irrational then anything we do
based on that emotion is clearly wrong as irrationality implies a negligence
of logic or reason. But hatred isn't always wrong, it can be justified. So
can it be both rational and irrational? Or can it only be one or the other?



Problem 3: Significance



It is a common argument that without negative aspects in life there would be
no reason for some human qualities to exist, like courage for example.
However hatred cannot always be construed as being negative. It can drive
people to do both amazing and terrible things. So how significant is it to
our lives? If we were to picture a world without hatred would we also have
to picture a world without its antithesis, love? Is it so imperative to the
functionality of our minds that without it we could no longer be classified
as being human?



So my main 3 confusions I ask for help on are:



1. Is there a common ground and if so how can we draw the line and call it
"hate"?

2. Is hate rational or irrational, or both?

3. How significant is hatred to us as human beings?



Best regards and many thanks,

Ash