The book is Parerga and Paralipomena: Short Philosophical Essays, the section is "Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life". In a discussion of the idea of "knightly honor", an idea abhorrent to him, Schopenhauer distinguishes knightly honor (or chivalry) from civic honor. Knightly honor says that one's honor and reputation can be damaged or even ruined by the public utterance of an insult. If the insult to oneself goes unchallenged or unavenged, one's (knightly) honor is forfeit.More closely considered, the heart of the matter is that, whereas civic honor, as aiming at amicable association with others, consists in their opinion of us that we merit perfect confidence, since we respect absolutely the rights of everyone, knightly honor, on the other hand, consists in the opinion that we are to be feared, since we mean to defend absolutely our own rights.Where lies the chief problem with knightly honor?...it has risen to an over-estimation of the value of the person which is quite inappropriate to the nature, constitution, and destiny of man.*There you have it: when someone claims to be offended, it means, "I am so important, but my self-esteem so low, that you dare not cause me to think that someone, somewhere, thinks less than highly of me. To do that is pernicious and deserving of censure."
*What does it mean when we say to offend someone? It means to cause him to doubt the high opinion he has of himself.
Offensiveness, at least of the type that is directly aimed at denigrating a person or group, is completely in the eyes of the offended. No one has the power to offend someone against his will.
Dennis Mangan on Being Offended
Monday, June 30, 2008
From Mangan's Miscelleny a Meditation on the Meaning of Being Offended (Inspired by a Reading of Schopenhauer) :
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
So, MCB, this would be a different kind of offence than the offence to God when we sin, I assume. No-one should accuse God of being worried about our opinion of Him, or that He is egotistical obviously.
So, if I were to say that I find certain behaviour in others offensive, then that could, presumably be on account of civic honour due either to myself or others, is that right? Am I understanding this correctly?
Mrs Purcell, I believe that Mr Mangan's target is not those who are offended by gross immorality or unnecessary incivility; rather at people who claim to "be offended" at certain opinions or words so that they may play the victim or to try to suppress discussions on religious or social or political matters.
As a result we are all held hostage to their eggshell-thin self-esteem and their hyper-sensitive "feelings". For example we have the spectacle of people taking offense at the use of "niggardly" or "black hole" or the sale of Golliwogs or mentioning of the unanimous results of I.Q. tests among certain population groups.
The problem is that the actual truth of statements becomes irrelevant to the hurt feelings of the designated victim group.
Right-o. Agreed.
Post a Comment