Philosophers on the idea that harming others also harms oneself?

August 31, 2019 12:20 PM

I'm looking for philosophy sources that address the idea that a moral or ethical harm one causes to others (dehumanizing another person, for instance) also harms the self. What philosophers address this idea? Any specific passages, essays, articles, etc. would be very appreciated.
posted by Mystical Listicle to Religion & Philosophy (8 answers total)

Begin at the beginning: Plato's Republic is an attempt to prove that your being unjust isn't just bad for other people, it's bad for you, even if you reap all sorts of material rewards. Socrates tries to argue that the just person lives a better/happier/more excellent life than the unjust person, who, despite those material advantages, is a slave to themselves.
posted by Beardman at 12:38 PM on August 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Some chapters/verses of the Dhammapada concern these ideas.
posted by Balthamos at 1:44 PM on August 31, 2019

Best answer: It's more psychological, but you might want to read around the idea of moral injury, which is related, and Jonathan Shay includes references to the ancient Greeks in his work.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 4:29 PM on August 31, 2019

This is the essence of Buddhism and the law of Karma. Actions taken with negative intention ripen in future experiences of pain - the wheel of sharp weapons.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:14 PM on August 31, 2019

Best answer: You want some Kant, my friend. The words you might start with are “throwing away [one’s] humanity” but there’s much more in the Metaphysics of Morals which I can give more specifics to passages from when I’m not on mobile.
posted by zinful at 11:43 PM on August 31, 2019 [2 favorites]

Aimé Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism
posted by anansi at 4:24 AM on September 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Zinful, thank you I will appreciate specific passages! It seems that some philosophers describe empirical reasons it is bad (it does x, y, and z to the person who harms), but I'm also looking for an analytical and systematic exploration of why is it bad for the person who harms..
posted by Mystical Listicle at 8:43 AM on September 1, 2019

My curiousity was piqued by zinful's reply so I went looking at Kant. I found this (PDF) on Kant's Metaphysics of Morals with Essays and also these Wikiquote entries (see the article for citations):

• By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man. A man who himself does not believe what he tells another … has even less worth than if he were a mere thing. … makes himself a mere deceptive appearance of man, not man himself.
• The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
• Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.

I also found Kant's Anatomy of Evil (PDF).
posted by forthright at 2:56 PM on September 1, 2019 [2 favorites]