Contempt is often derided as a thoroughly nasty emotion inimical to the respect we owe all persons, but ethicists have said little about what contempt is or whether it deserves its ugly reputation. In Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt, Macalester Bell argues that we must reconsider contempt’s role in our moral lives. While contempt can be experienced in inapt and disvaluable ways, it may also be a perfectly appropriate response that provides the best way of answering a range of neglected faults. Using a wide range of examples, Bell provides an account of the nature of contempt an ... More

Contempt is often derided as a thoroughly nasty emotion inimical to the respect we owe all persons, but ethicists have said little about what contempt is or whether it deserves its ugly reputation. In Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt, Macalester Bell argues that we must reconsider contempt’s role in our moral lives. While contempt can be experienced in inapt and disvaluable ways, it may also be a perfectly appropriate response that provides the best way of answering a range of neglected faults. Using a wide range of examples, Bell provides an account of the nature of contempt and its virtues and vices. While some insist that contempt is always unfitting due to its globalism, Bell argues that this objection mischaracterizes the person assessments at the heart of contempt. Contempt is, in some cases, the best way to respond to arrogance, hypocrisy, and other vices of superiority. Contempt does have a dark side, and inapt forms of contempt structure a host of social ills. Racism is best characterized as an especially pernicious form of inapt contempt, and Bell’s account of contempt helps us better understand the moral badness of racism. Race-based contempt is best answered by mobilizing a robust counter-contempt for racists and others who contemn inaptly. The book concludes with a discussion of overcoming contempt through forgiveness. This account of forgiveness sheds light upon the broader issue of social reconciliation and what role reparations and memorials may play in giving persons reasons to overcome their contempt for institutions.