Misanthropy

"Misanthrope" redirects here. For the Molière comedy, see Le Misanthrope. For the French metal band, see Misanthrope (band).

Misanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species, human nature, or society. A misanthrope is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from Greek words μῖσος (misos, "hatred") and ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos, "man, human being").

In Western thought

Literature

Misanthropy has been ascribed to a number of writers of satire, such as William S. Gilbert ("I hate my fellow-man"), but such identifications must be closely scrutinized because a critical or darkly humorous outlook toward mankind may be mistaken for genuine misanthropy. Jonathan Swift is widely accused of misanthropy (see A Tale of a Tub and, most especially, Book IV of Gulliver's Travels).

Moliere's character Alceste in Le Misanthrope (1666) states:

My hate is general, I detest all men;
Some because they are wicked and do evil,
Others because they tolerate the wicked,
Refusing them the active vigorous scorn
Which vice should stimulate in virtuous minds.

Philosophy

In Western philosophy, misanthropy has been connected to isolation from human society. In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates defines the misanthrope in relation to his fellow man: "Misanthropy develops when without art one puts complete trust in somebody thinking the man absolutely true and sound and reliable and then a little later discovers him to be bad and unreliable...and when it happens to someone often...he ends up...hating everyone." Misanthropy, then, is presented as the result of thwarted expectations or even excess optimism, since Plato argues that "art" would have allowed the potential misanthrope to recognize that the majority of men are to be found in between good and evil. Aristotle follows a more ontological route: the misanthrope, as an essentially solitary man, is not a man at all: he must be a beast or a god, a view reflected in the Renaissance of misanthropy as a "beast-like state."

It is important to distinguish between philosophical pessimism and misanthropy. Immanuel Kant said that "Of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made," and yet this was not an expression of the uselessness of mankind itself.

Another example of mistaken misanthropy is Jean-Paul Sartre's quote "Hell is other people." On the face of it, this looks deeply misanthropic, but actually Sartre was making an observation about the tendency of human beings to lack self-knowledge. We tend to project our worst fears, and our most deeply disliked personal characteristics, onto other people, rather than look inside and face them within ourselves. Thus, when we look at other people we often see the worst of what is in our own personality.

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, on the other hand, was almost certainly as famously misanthropic as his reputation. He wrote that "human existence must be a kind of error." It should be added, however, that misanthropy does not necessarily equate with an inhumane attitude towards humanity. Schopenhauer concluded, in fact, that ethical treatment of others was the best attitude, for we are all fellow sufferers and all part of the same will-to-live; he also discussed suicide with a sympathetic understanding which was rare in his own time, when it was largely a taboo subject.

More specifically, Schopenhauer has also been accused of misogyny. Martin Heidegger also showed misanthropy in his concern of the "they" — the tendency of people to conform to one view, which no-one has really thought through, but is just followed because, "they say so". Unlike Schopenhauer, Heidegger was opposed to any ethics or reason to treat others with respect. Though rare, misanthropy has appeared in forms of popular entertainment.

Political economy

Detestation of people, humanity in general may be a reaction to social orders perceived as barbaric, repressive, unfair, or hyper-competitive. In his 1949 article Why Socialism? Einstein gives the example of a cultured man who states that the destruction of humanity would not be a bad thing.

Popular culture

The American standup comedian Bill Hicks expressed misanthropy in his work, calling the human race "a virus with shoes" and referred to himself as a "misanthropic humanist".

Similarly, themes of misanthropy appeared on The Holy Bible, the third album by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. It included lines such as "All I preach is extinction" and a speech sample of author J. G. Ballard expressing what appear to be deeply misanthropic sentiments.

On Bad Religion's album, Suffer, there is a song called "Do What You Want", it contains the line "I sit on my ass, all goddamn day, a misanthropic anthropoid with nothing to, say what you must".

The NDH band Samsas Traum has a song called "Glück Und Asche" about misanthropy. The lyrics detail hatred of the human species, but also hatred of the self, which is reminiscent of Jean-Paul Sartre's observations. "Ich hasse alle Menschen, und tagtäglich wird es schlimmer, weil sie, wie ich, dumm und töricht sind, und mir die schlimmsten Ängste machen" (I hate all humans, and day by day it grows worse, because they, like me, are stupid and foolish, and create the worst fears in me)

Melvin Udall, Eric Cartman, Randall Graves, Michel Gerard, Luke Danes, Jess Mariano, Paris Geller, Becker, Bertram Pincus & Gregory House are all examples of fictional misanthropes.

Psychopathology

Serial killers and other sociopaths frequently express misanthropic attitudes. Serial murderer Carl Panzram was remembered for his violent and indiscriminate misanthropy, with his last words before being hanged recorded as "I wish all mankind had one neck so I could choke it!".

In Persian thought

In early and pre-Islamic philosophy, certain thinkers such as Ibn al-Rawandi, a skeptic of Islam, and Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi often expressed misanthropic views.

In the Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800–1400), the Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon, uses the Platonic idea that the self-isolated man is dehumanized by friendlessness to argue against the misanthropy of anchorite asceticism and reclusiveness.

See also

• Humanism
• Misotheism
• Philosophical pessimism
• Philanthropy
• GG Allin
• Boyd Rice