Scheler’s The Emotion Of "Resentment" Research

The word Resentment is from a French origin, which was introduced into GermanNietzsche as a term in philosophy. Max Scheler (1874-1928), a German Catholic andphilosopher, had a thorough look into the spiritual feature of man in the age of Capitalismwith methods used in the field of Emotional Phenomenology, thus leading the research ofRESENTMENT as a kind of emotion into a broader academic background. Max Schelercarried out a series of discussions on resentment in the system of moral construction withphenomenological methods, applying the word with a special charm. He started from thedefinition of MAN to observe carefully the orders of love and resentment by the reductionmethod of phenomenology and to discover the origins and development routes ofresentment, defining finally resentment as the spiritual disposition of the age of Capitalism,which has resulted in the transformation of the modern structure of value experience andthe displacement of value. Scheler regarded resentment as the origin of the overturn or thecollapse of value system.The present study explores the emotion of resentment in Scheler’s studies from thethree parts followed:In the first part, the writer makes a historic survey into ‘resentment’,trying to find out the origin of the word, and makes a deep analysis into it form theperspectives of etymology and manners and thus to bring about a clear understanding ofthe development of resentment. Meanwhile, in this part, the writer also tries to interpretresentment from the psychological structure and ethic structure of resentment. In thesecond part, the writer tries to expound that modern resentment consists of numerouskinds of resentment, and is the origin of overturn and collapse of the value system ofhuman emotions. As a disposition of our modern spirit, its structural positions of practicalvalue and vitality have been removed and changed, and it has displayed a industrializedand commercialized characteristic which has replaced its original metaphysical one. Theimportant value of resentment lies in the fact that it is the origin of moral judgment, and itis a decisive element in the power of moral judgment. It is resentment that has led to thetransformation of the modern structure of value experience and the displacement of value.The third part focuses on resentment as a kind emotion and its relationship with theconstruction modern moral and ethic system. In modern society we are witnessing a chaosstate of social morality, which can mainly be attributed to the fact that the principal body of the moral system has a psychology which is filled with resentment. Modern people setthe appearance of psychology of resentment and the formation of different types ofresentment as foundation of moral judgment, thus making the development of resentmentclosely related to the downfall of morality. We should improve our comprehensiveself-cultivation and develop our modern virtue theory, which is of great significance to theconstruction of our socialist market economy and of a harmonious society in China, andalso of great inspiring value to Chinese modernization process.