When Bad Things Happen to Other People [Paperback]

John Portmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Although many of us deny it, it is not uncommon to feel pleasure over the suffering of others, particularly when we feel that suffering has been deserved. The German word for this concept-Schadenfreude-has become universal in its expression of this feeling. Drawing on the teachings of history's most prominent philosophers, John Portmann explores the concept of Schadenfreude in this rigorous, comprehensive, and absorbing study.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Does taking pleasure in the pain of another always represent malice? Or can this emotion reflect a thoughtful respect for justice? And what about humor, which often revolves around a "comeuppance" that those who laugh see as trivial (though the laughter's target may disagree)? These are the sorts of questions Portmann takes on in his nuanced analysis of schadenfreude. The subject has been debated by philosophers over the generations; Portmann engages with them, from Kant and Freud to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. He draws on literature, too, exploring the positions of Kafka and Dickens, Umberto Eco and Toni Morrison, and applies his normative notion of schadenfreude to current debates on subjects such as capital punishment, media violence, and the cult of celebrity. Portmann defends schadenfreude but urges attention to its basis in "power structures and social forces through which our characters both take shape and shape the lives of those around us." A demanding but productively provocative analysis. Mary Carroll --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

...a valuable addition to moral philosophy because it points up some of the conundrums associated with a careful consideration of Schadenfreude. -- Philosophy and Literature
...strongly recommended as a stimulating and perceptive examination of issues and questions relating to our attitudes toward the misfortunes of other people with which all of us are familiar in our moral lives. -- The Virginia Quarterly Review
[The book] is praiseworthy for taking up the frequently neglected topic of the ethics of emotions and for pointing out why discussion of emotions has been shunned by many philosophers...the book's style is quite readable... -- The World
...fine nuggets peppered through the text... -- New York Times
A demanding but productively provocative analysis. -- Booklist
...lucid and engaging. -- The Wall Street Journal
Schadenfreude is a fascinating emotion, much neglected but obviously of great importance for practical ethics and moral psychology. Portmann's book cuts across the intersection of current emotion theory, psychology and ethics and invites philosophical interaction with some classic literature on some of the nastier emotions. The author is obviously well-read and has a rich store of literary and philosophical examples. -- Robert C. Solomon, University of Texas at Austin

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Reprint edition (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415923352
• ISBN-13: 978-0415923354
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #382,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When good books are written by other people, January 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: When Bad Things Happen to Other People (Hardcover)

As a law professor, I thought I knew everything about schadenfreude, but then I read John Portmann's fascinating book, and it made me think about the terrible things that happen to people who deserve to have even worse things happen to them in a completely new light. Why is it that we feel such satisfaction at the misfortunes of others? Portmann explains, in a wonderfully lucid and elegant style, the differences among the various senses in which we view the bad things that might happen, ranging from comedy through true tragedy. This book is a real crossover between scholarship and a delightful read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 31 flavors of an emotion, December 30, 2003

By 

Saul Boulschett "Anyway" (Dry land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Bad Things Happen to Other People (Hardcover)

The real title of this study might have been something much less appealing, like, Schadenfreude: It's Meaning, Experience and Social Ramification. Or, The Anatomy of Schadenfreude. That would have seriously limited its appeal to the average reader perhaps. (So it's just as well that the title parallels the recently very popular, but not so good, book called When Bad Things Happen to Good People.)
But, the fact is, that really is the content of the book, and fascinating and delightful it is. The prose style is crystal and orderly, almost like a serious dissertation that went through a top-notch editor (although there is a typo here and there, but who's counting?).
This emotion that has no proper English name is dissected not only in a variety of ways, but also at a variety of angles, revealing unexpected relationships between this pecadillo and our construct of justice. For example, Do we take pleasure in the justice that is served when one who "deserves" it gets his/her comeuppance? Or is it that we take pleasure in the knowledge that we were lucky enough to have been spared the same nasty spill of fate? Is Schadenfreude the same thing as malice? What about the element of anticipation? Even if we may not consciously wish any person any harm, but still find it somewhat pleasurable to discover that so-and-so was laid-off or demoted, are we guilty? Why is that some tiny little part of us "dies" when our friends succeed, and do better than we do?
How is Schadenfreude different from envy, malice, jealousy, and resentment?
Questions such as these and many more are carefully examined by cross-referencing Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and modern scholars of ethics, including John Rawls. Complex theme but Portman is a gentleman scholar, goes out of his way (albeit effortlessly) to make clear all his references.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars entertaining and provacative, July 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: When Bad Things Happen to Other People (Paperback)

Why do we (sometimes) delight in the suffering of our fellow humans? Should we fell ashamed of schadenfreude and other "outlaw emotions," as the author calls them? John Portmann has produced an elegant and readable meditation on the significance of the pleasure we take in the spectacle afforded by the misfortures of others. Portmann carefully distinguishes schadenfreude from garden variety malice in the course of his examination of what great philosophers and the world's major religions have to tell us about the subject. Throughout the book, the author comes across as brilliant and compassionate, but never dull or stuffy, even when he argues (in the conclusion) that the satisfactions of mercy can be every bit as great as those of revenge. When Bad Things Happen to Other People is an important contribution to the growing literature on human emotions.