[H]uman societies... have persistently sought as far as possible to suppress envy. Why? Because in any group the envious man is inevitably a disturber of the peace, a potential saboteur, an instigator of mutiny and, fundamentally, he cannot be placated by others. Since there can be no absolutely egalitarian society, since people cannot be made truly equal if a community is to be at all viable, the envious man is, by definition, the negation of the basis of any society. Incurably envious people may, for a certain time, inspire and lead chiliastic, revolutionary movements, but they can never establish a stable society except by compromising their 'ideals' of equality.
The history of early human thought on the subject of social relations has never, so far as is know, shown evidence of any illusions about the nature of envy.
Most communities have developed or adapted customs and views that enable individual members of the tribe to be unequal in one way or another without being harmed by the envy of the others.
~ Helmut Schoeck, Envy, p. 33
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| 1966 |
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