Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

ENVY AND EMULATION 21
dissatisfaction and pain: that simply reduces his superiority in my eyes, and
ministers to my feelings of self-importance. As signifying in the envious
man a want that is ungratified, and as pointing to a sense of impotence
inasmuch as he lacks the sense of power which possession of the desired
object would give him, envy is in itself a painful emotion, although it is
associated with pleasure when misfortune is seen to befall the object of it.
The writer of the article also quotes Dryden:
Envy, that does with misery reside,
The joy and the revenge of ruin'd pride.
The article compares envy with jealousy. They have much in common
yet represent completely different emotions. Jealousy differs from envy
in being infinitely more spiteful, as well as more impassioned and less
restrained. Jealousy arises out of an opinion as to what is one's due; it is
not purely a sense of inferiority, as is envy. For the jealous man,
furthermore, there is a twofold source of irritation and uneasiness, since
three people are involved: he is not engaged with one rival only, but with
two (individuals or groups). If I am jealous of somebody this is because
he has won someone else's affections to which I think I have a right. Thus
I hate not only the usurper but the person he has seduced.
Next, envy is compared with emulation, a term that has been equated
with it. Americans, for example, prefer 'envy' to the obsolete use of
'emulation,' but are quite unaware of the shift in meaning. They have
forgotten envy's spiteful, destructive aspect.
The article rightly considers emulation to be very different from envy.
He who emulates, who seeks to do what another has done, is neither
self-seeking, spiteful, nor filled with hatred. Emulation requires a rival, a
competitor, but the latter does not have to be seen as an enemy. He may
even be a friend whose example stimulates our own powers and talents.
Behaviour that reveals emulation is observable in many animals and is
also apparent in the simple games of young children.
Again, the article draws a distinction between ambition and emulation.
While ambition may be laudable, it may also degenerate into a
ruthlessness leading ultimately to methods of harming a rival very
similar to those of the envious man. Emulation may turn into envy as