Abstract
I examine two recent accounts of ressentiment, respectively as a malicious form of envy and as the urge to find someone to blame for one's suffering, and argue that they fail either to identify the distinctive character of ressentiment or to give a persuasive account of the revaluation it motivates. I propose to conceive of ressentiment as an expression of will to power and proceed to outline an analysis of this motivation as a desire for effective agency. I conclude by showing how ressentiment so understood is especially apt to disrupt an agent's values.
Keywords
blame; suffering; ressentiment; will to power