Hypotheses about envy

1. We envy those close to us, who get paid just a bit more, not Bill Gates.

2. Men find it hardest to forgive other men for their success with women.

3. Men do not much envy women because they view women as “one of life’s prizes”.

4. The philosophers who wrote most insightfully about envy were all bachelors (Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche).

I found these claims in Joseph Epstein’s recent, and entertaining, book Envy. Here is an interview with Epstein. Here is an essay by Epstein on envy. Here is a whole host of Epstein-related links.

My take: I envy how well he writes, but was comforted to read that tenured academics typically earn more than he does.