Schadenfreude is a German phrase that refers back to the pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. It’s a complicated emotion that may be each optimistic and damaging. On the one hand, schadenfreude may be seen as a approach of dealing with our personal misfortunes by evaluating ourselves to those that are worse off. Then again, schadenfreude can be seen as a type of cruelty, because it entails taking pleasure within the struggling of others.
The phrase schadenfreude is derived from the German phrases schaden, that means “hurt” or “harm,” and freude, that means “pleasure.” The time period was first used within the 18th century by German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer believed that schadenfreude was a pure human emotion that’s rooted in our personal emotions of inadequacy. He argued that we benefit from the misfortunes of others as a result of it makes us really feel superior to them.
