Someone who doesn’t imperil your body or wallet can still threaten your social status. This suggests two reasons people may harm the harmless – either they don’t feel the others’ pain or they enjoy feeling the others’ pain.Īnother reason people harm the harmless is because they nonetheless see a threat. For most of us, hurting others causes us to feel their pain. Humans typically do things to get pleasure or avoid pain. But when someone harms the harmless, we ask: “How could you?” We understand if someone lashes out in retaliation or self-defence. We reach out a hand and we stick in the knife. Humans are the glory and the scum of the universe, concluded the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, in 1658. Why are some humans cruel to people who don’t pose a threat to them – sometimes even their own children? Where does this behaviour come from and what purpose does it serve? – Ruth, 45, London.
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