HMSB00011U Hatred: A Philosophical Exploration

In a world of intractable conflicts, terror and ethnic violence, we often speak of hatred. At the same time, focused and explorative investigations of hatred are few and far between. What runs through modern responses to hatred is an assumption that hatred is something negative to be dealt with – the mark of the villain, the self-delusional bigot or the Nazi fanatic. Hatred (whatever it is) is something to be prevented, condemned, monitored, and possibly criminalized. This course offers a comprehensive philosophical exploration of hatred. It probes the premises of our modern understandings of hatred and challenges widespread but reductive assumptions that hatred is mad or bad and a manifestation of prejudice or intolerance.

- The course includes four parts. First, an examination of the place of hatred in the history of philosophy (including Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Sartre). Second, an introduction to the philosophy of emotion and an account of the nature and anatomy of hatred, including its relation to anger, love, prejudice, and vindictiveness. Third, a discussion of the main ethical and political issues surrounding hatred, asking e.g. what is so bad about hate? On what conditions, if any, can hatred be justified or permissible? Is fighting hatred a legitimate political and legal endeavor? Fourth, and finally, focus is turned to a cluster of modern discourses or fields in which references to hate and hatred abound: hate speech, hate crime, and genocide. Depending on time and interest, we might include a focus on the representation of hatred in works of literature and film.