Presentation on Hate – K-group (Turku-UCLA Philosophy Club)

1.12.2023

Hate as a Mode of Aligning with the Other

Abstract:

Philosophers have not discussed hate to the same extent as its positive counterpart, love. However, recent developments in philosophy of mind have taken more interest in hate. The central debate about hate concerns its place in human cognition. According to some, hate is an emotion like anger or fear, albeit a very strong and long lasting one. Others, focusing on the relative stability of hate view it as a sentiment instead, a dispositional property to emote and act in certain ways. Still others have viewed hate as an attitude or a way of regarding the other, thus aligning their view with those presented by P. F. Strawson in Freedom and Resentment.

I will take stock of these discussions and suggest yet another way of looking at hate. I tentatively argue that hate and love should be considered as the opposite poles on our foundational way of relating to others in terms of their value and significance to ourselves. I call this subjective relation to others alignment. Alignment is partially constituted by our emotions, such as affection or aversion, and partially by the way we perceive the other in relation to us. Emotions constitute our (felt) evaluations of the significance of others to us, while our perceptions and beliefs make for our interpretation or appraisal of them.

I argue that alignment forms a continuum that has love and hate as its extremities. Contrasting hate, which contains a deep aversion and an impulse to debase or annihilate the other, with love, which involves a deep affection and inclination to self-sacrifice, offers us an interesting view into this darker shade of our human nature.