Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

THE PECKING ORDER 97
analogous sarcasm of the man whose work is dull, slow, and commonplace
about the men of rank and power who may be favoured by a trend, a fashion
or a technical or theoretical system, which they either brought to flashy
effect themselves, or adopted skilfully amid a blaze of pUblicity. 27
For instance, we regard it as the expression of a sense of social justice
when a strong man spontaneously goes to the assistance of another who
is being attacked by somebody stronger than the victim but weaker than
the rescuer. Such 'noble' behaviour can be observed notably in school
playgrounds, in groups of children and among siblings, but also in
certain groups of adults and among strangers. Now where the case is one
of defending the weakest in the group so that he may not go short of food,
it is even more applicable to the matter under investigation: Why does
the stronger one, who is in any case well provided for, bother about
securing enough for the weaker or weakest one, who is not even a
member of his oWIi inner group? Before considering pretentious terms
such as 'sympathy,' 'egalitarian justice,' 'compassion' or 'nobility,' it
might be worth taking a look at animals.
Many years ago Konrad Lorenz mentioned behaviour on the part of
- animais that was analogous to moral conduct. For instance, he describes
the strict order of precedence that obtains in all jackdaw colonies: if any
two jackdaws quarrel, a third, their superior in rank, intervenes with
reflex-like authority on behalf of the lowest-ranking combatant.
In the jackdaw colony those of the higher orders, particularly the despot
himself, are not aggressive towards the birds that stand far beneath them: it
is only in their relations towards their immediate inferiors that they are
constantly irritable; this applies especially to the despot and the pretender
to the throne-Number One and Number 'I\vo.
Hence, what appears to us to be chivalry is in reality an innate reaction
which does, of course, function in the preservation of the species. It also,
however, secures the position of the animal which happens to be stronger
against those which, for the time being, cannot assert themselves against
him and so direct their aggression towards those beneath them. 28
27 Op. cit., p. 548.
28 K. Lorenz, 'Moral-analoges Verhalten geselliger Tiere,' Universitas, 11th year,
1951,p.548.