Nursing Schadenfreude: the culpability of emotional construction.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of Schadenfreude--the pleasure felt at another's misfortune--and to argue that feeling it in the course of health care work, as elsewhere, is evidence of a deficient character. In order to show that Schadenfreude is an objectionable emotion in health care work, I first offer some conceptual remarks about emotions generally and their differential treatment in Kantian and Aristotelian thought. Second, I argue that an appreciation of the rationality of the emotions is crucial to our self-understanding as persons in general and nurses in particular. Third, I present a critique of Portmann's (2000, When Bad Things Happen to Other People. London: Routledge) defence of Schadenfreude with examples from both nursing and medical scenarios. Specifically, I show how his exculpation of the emotion in terms of low self-esteem and a commitment to justice are not compelling. I argue that we are active in the construction of our emotional experiences of Schadenfreude, how we may indeed 'nurse' the emotion, and thus become culpable for them in ethical terms.
McNamee
Michael John
MJ
School of Health Science, University of Wales, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, SA2 8PP, UK. m.j.mcnamee@swansea.ac.uk
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D009014:Morals; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D010990:Pleasure-Pain Principle