The moral and social dimensions of the concept of resentment in Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Scheler

This thesis analyzes the impact of F. Nietzsche and M. Scheler's concepts of resentment on social norms and fundamental values. It examines the effects of resentment on individuals' actions, as well as its influence on fundamental values and social life. In his work "The Genealogy of Morality", Nietzsche considers resentment a mechanism corresponding to "slave morality," where it is transformed into something to be weakened, something to be overcome by powerful entities, and argues that the foundation of slave morality is resentment. Scheler, on the other hand, treats this phenomenon as a phenomenological form, an emotional attitude, which he calls "resentment." He emphasizes that this phenomenon is a deeply rooted psychological state in both individual and social structures. Scheler further argues that resentment plays an active role in the fundamental structure of society as well as in the actions of individuals. According to Nietzsche, the resentment that arises in weak individuals is important for the shaping of society. These powerless individuals, who constitute the weakest segment of society, hinder the development of their societies and cause their downfall. As society becomes more herd-like, the emergence of a low-level society unable to develop itself becomes inevitable. Scheler, on the other hand, reduces resentment to the level of people who survive in daily life; he sees the source of envy as the fact that someone else has achieved the success they desired but could not attain in old age. Envy is an impulse that contains a sense of belonging. According to him, weak individuals console themselves by devaluing the values of successful people. Therefore, the attitudes and behaviors associated with the concept of resentment in its various dimensions have social, cultural, and ethical manifestations, and in this context, shifts and transformations in social life, institutions, and values are inevitable. In this study, the thoughts of both philosophers are examined comparatively, based on similarities and differences, and the reflections of the concept of resentment in modern society from moral, cultural, and psychological perspectives are analyzed within the framework of the views of both philosophers. The aim of this study is to reveal the effects of resentment on the individual and society and to evaluate these effects from an ethical and social critique perspective in line with philosophical discussions Keywords: Ressentiment, slave morality, good-evil, values, weakness.