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Chapter 5: The Origin of Vanity
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chapter 5 The Origin of Vanity* It is not a matter of indifference to us whether others have a good or bad opinion of us for two main reasons: (1) because we are self-interested, and so hope for advantages from a good opinion,and are afraid of disadvantages from a bad opinion; (2) because we are vain, so that a good opinion is itself pleasant and a bad opinion is itself unpleasant. Vanity thus has a positive and a negative aspect: we hope for a good opinion , that is, to please, to be admired and envied; we are afraid of a bad opinion , that is, of displeasing, of being discredited, despised, or mocked. For example, we want to please by our appearance, personality, and behavior : we want it said of us that we are beautiful and amiable and that we know how to behave. We hope especially to attract admiration and envy by our mental successes, such as our literary works; or again by the extent of our physical successes: we want to withstand and be able to endure more than others. In order to attract admiration or envy, we use all the relevant advantages of mind,body,or external goods (riches,distinction,high position,etc.). On the other hand, it is painful to us to displease, to be regarded as physically or mentally weak or as a coward, or to be discredited and despised because of some lack of mental, physical, or external advantages. This positive aspect of vanity is divided into vanity in the narrower sense and ambition. It is characteristic of the person who is vain in the narrower sense that he wants to please, to be admired and envied now, whereas the person who is called ambitious is the one who first sets out to acquire the advantages that excite admiration and envy.The qualities by which we please (grace, beauty) would be an object of ambition if they could be acquired by the power of the will alone. The negative aspect of vanity is designated by everyday language as the sense of honor. So it is said of the person for whom discredit and contempt (dis- * In this chapter some material is borrowed from the author’s Psychological Observations . honor) is painful,indeed unbearable,that he has a sense of honor,and of those who are indifferent to this shame that they do not have a sense of honor. Remark. The word “vanity” is used here in a wider sense than the usual one. We usually describe as vain only those in whom the desire to please, to possess more than others, or to be admired is immediately evident (in other words, those who are described here as vain in the narrower sense), and we distinguish from them the ambitious and those who act out of a sense of honor. However, vanity in the narrower sense, ambition and the sense of honor are, as we have shown, expressions of the same fundamental drive, namely, concern for the opinion of others for its own sake (in contrast with concern for the opinion of others owing to the utility one expects from it: that is,from self-interest). The difference simply consists in whether this concern shows itself immediately, in which case it is called vanity; or whether it appears in the form of work aimed at acquiring the advantages that excite admiration and envy: in which case it is called ambition; or whether it appears in the form of a sensitivity to contempt (to dishonor): in which case it is called the sense of honor. The author has no intention whatever of expressing a general condemnation in labeling these different forms of the same basic instinct as vanity,a word taken to have connotations of blame. He does not want to present something like, for example, the sense of honor, which people ordinarily consider to be praiseworthy, as something blameworthy in his eyes. Rather,he uses the word “vanity” just to have a single expression for the psychological phenomenon he is about to explain, namely, concern for the opinion of others for its own sake. To what extent and for what reasons people condemn this concern will be examined later. The existence of vanity is a problem:Why is admiration agreeable to us,even when we do not expect any advantages resulting from it? Why is contempt painful to us,even when we do not expect any disadvantages resulting from it? The explanation of these...