Some people try to argue that there’s a difference between a person and her actions. “I resent your actions, but I don’t resent you.”
That’s sounds really nice, doesn’t it? Tolerant, insightful and empathic…
But what people don’t think about when uttering nonsense like this, is that it leads to a very questionable metaphysical/psychological viewpoint.
If you strip a person of her actions, what’s left? Who is that person then? And how could anyone, other than herself, have an opinion about it?
If I am not my actions, then who am I? And what would there be left to judge that by?
This could very easily lead into the eternal mind-body-soul-dilemma, but I’ll try to stay clear of it, since that’s really not the issue.
There seems to be only two options, a) the physical body and its functions or b) thoughts/emotions/soul.
Now, this is also tricky since thoughts (and according to some, emotions too) are body functions, i.e. impulses in the brain’s nervous system.
However, I think that we all can agree to that thoughts (and emotions) are body functions of a particular kind, to be separated from breathing and digestion e.g. So for the sake of the argument, let’s define thoughts, emotions and the soul as the same thing.
Alternative a) is no good, since it would reduce a person to beeing equivalent to their physique. I’m quite sure that most of us would consider ourselfs to be something more and other than just our appearance. Other body functions seem equally as contra-intuitive.
That leaves alternative b).
“I think, therefore I am”? Well, possibly, but I’m going to stay clear of the scepticistic/common sense-argument too.
My issue here is that one can’t resent somebody’s actions without resenting them.
Even if alternative b) was true, no one else could possibly know what kind of a person I am without the intermediary links of actions.
But my identity is what it is, regardless of what anyone else thinks you might object.
Is it really? I beg to differ, but that’s not the issue either today.
In any case, if you don’t know what somebody is like, how can you then know whether you resent them or not?
The only tool we have to determine liking, disliking or resentment of eachother is evaluation of actions.
We, human beings have personalities that differs from eachother. It is probably safe to say that certain personality types are more inclined to certain actions than others.
A creative personality are more inclined to try out new ideas, and an introverted personality is more inclined to be selective in choice of friends, e.g.
So when I say that I resent an action, that means that I resent the part of that person’s personality that’s being displayed in that act.
An act can’t be separated from the person/personality who executed it. To the contrary, we are defined by our actions.
If I steal, then I am a thief. If I read a lot of books, then I’m well-read. If I give to charity, then I am compassionate, if I insult someone, then I am rude…etc.
Hence the phrase “I resent your actions, but I don’t resent you” is not only meaningless, it is also self-contradictory.
