fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Tuesday

"'Anger is accompanied by pain, but hatred not; for he who is angry suffers pain, but he who hates does not. One who is angry might feel compassion in many cases, but one who hates, never; for the former wishes that the object of his anger should suffer in his turn, the latter, that he should perish.'"

Ender smiled as the class settled in, a copy of the Complete Works of Aristotle sitting in his lap. "Aristotle is one of this world's most famous philosophers. One of the ancient Greeks, who lived almost 2.500 years ago, taught by the legendary Plato. And a man with a lot of things to say about hatred."

He closed the book. "Aristotle sees a clear difference between anger and hate. Anger, he argues, is focused on the individual. In doing so, you must acknowledge the humanity - or sentience - of the being you feel such anger towards. You feel, and you want the object of your anger to feel as well. Hatred, on the other hand, is different. Hatred can also be about groups, says Aristotle, about a collection of things you wish only to be utterly destroyed. The object of your hatred need not feel something. It is only imperative that it be there to be mistreated, hurt, annihilated."

He set the book aside. "Hence, to feel hatred, you must have stripped the recipient of all that makes their feelings worth caring about," he said. "When I was young, I thought my brother hated me. I had something he didn't, and he wanted to destroy me for it. Only when I was older did I find the capacity to listen enough, and did he find the capacity to speak enough, for me to realize that he was simply fearful, and wanted my affection."

The annoyance of the weekend had passed, yes. Peter had called, and Ender had realized what all of that had been about. "In doing so, I denied his humanity, as much as I felt he denied mine," he said. "I was young. I didn't understand. Much like I was a few years later, when I felt a measure of hatred for the first time in my life, and paid the cost. It takes effort to put your feelings aside and listen. It takes more effort to understand that there's a reason to do so at all."

He reached for his bottle of water. "Don't get me wrong, anger can also be destructive," he said. "But personally I don't think it is as all encompassing." He took a sip. "So two questions, today. One, do you think Aristotle's division of anger and hatred is fair? And two, can you remember a time you felt hatred - and a time you felt someone hated you? What did you do about it? How did it feel? Do you regret it, or do you stand by it?"

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Hating.

Ghanima Atreides

Liliana Vess

Lana Beniko

Enjoy some water, or some tea. Somehow there is a nice breeze.

"So two questions, today. One, do you think Aristotle's division of anger and hatred is fair? And two, can you remember a time you felt hatred - and a time you felt someone hated you? What did you do about it? How did it feel? Do you regret it, or do you stand by it?"

"I would disagree with Aristotle, in that it is possible to be angry with the entire universe, and not an individual," Ghanima said thoughtfully. "--and I have hated, deeply, and been hated."

"I do not feel anything about it one way or another. It simply is what it is."

Liliana inclined her head in Ghanima's direction. "Well-said," she agreed. "I believe anger is far for flexible than that definition would give. I have been quite angry with whole groups before - I might say it's easier for my anger to turn into hate with groups, but that might simply be because I am quite good at hatred - though I tend more towards contempt instead."

It wasn't hard for her to strip someone of all that makes their feelings worth caring about; that was her general baseline for people. It was building up a foundation to make their feelings worth caring about that was hard.

Were Ghanima almost anyone else, Ender would have thought her a liar with that last statement. But she wasn't, and so the thought was quickly discarded.

"Have you ever been angry with the entire universe?"

"Would you believe that almost every single day of my life since I was old enough to understand the realities of my situation?" she replied, closing her eyes. "I only started letting go of it when I came to teach here, although some of it came back when I was faced with the younger version of my brother."

"I was so angry with the universe, to taunt me by putting him in front of me, knowing that I could not say or do a thing to change his -- our -- path."

"Railing impotently at the cruel hand of destiny," Ender said wryly, "Is, unfortunately, part of the human condition, I think."

He picked up his water. "Though Aristotle would argue with you on fate and inevitability, I suspect," he said.

"As I mentioned earlier, I am quite adept at hatred and I don't have to remember very far back for it."

Just until Friday, honestly.

"I have also been hated with fair regularity." She shrugged. "Generally, if someone hates me, I range from either not caring particularly much to a sense of satisfaction. As for when I personally hate someone or something..." She shrugged. "Kill it, whenever possible. And from there, I usually feel satisfaction or downright enjoyment of it, which really negates the potential for regret, which isn't an emotion I so more than dabble in anyway."

"So in that respect, Aristotle is right," Ender noted. "You don't care for the 'human-ness' of those you hate."

"I don't require hate for that," Liliana said bluntly.

"Why not?" Ender asked.

"I don't see a particularly compelling reason why I should," Liliana said.

Ender tilted his head. "Are you comfortable with the idea that another sentient being would refuse to see you as a person?"

"That's a fact of life," Liliana said. "Not just in my Multiverse, but in this one, too. There are three general groupings of people: those who I desire to recognize my personhood and do, those who I don't care about their opinion either way, and those who I desire to recognize my personhood or don't, and those who I desire to recognize my personhood and don't." She shrugged. "It is up to me to convince those in the last category of the error of their belief, or deal with the consequences if I don't."

You know like Nicol Bolas, Belzenlok, Razaketh, angels in general, most high-ranking members of the Church of Avacyn...

Lana frowned. "I think Aristotle's division is overly simplistic. I can hate someone and want them to suffer rather than perish. Or suffer and then perish. I can hate an individual and be angry with them. I can also be angry with entire groups of people and not hate them."

"Ah, but Aristotle would argue that if you want someone to suffer rather than perish, then you are mislabeling the emotion as 'hate' when 'anger' is appropriate," Ender noted, with a hint of amusement. "And if you are angry with entire groups of people, you may well just be angry with all the individuals in that group."

Lana grinned. "I think Aristotle would make a terrible Sith. And I'm angry with every politician in my galaxy until proven otherwise, whether I know them or not. I don't hate them all, I just think they're collectively doing a very poor job."

He's still thinking about that morning's phone call, yes.

I am so sick of this year.

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