Object-Envy: Envy in a Positive Light

While talking about envy being vicious or helpful as a character trait Taylor makes a distinction between object-envy and state-envy. The difference between these two types of envy is a gripping concept because envy has a negative connotation in our society.  Envy as a beneficial trait is a foreign concept that’s worth thinking about.

Since I’m mostly interested in envy being a beneficial trait I will be focusing on object-envy. In a nutshell, object-envy is when you recognize that a trait someone else has is a good trait to have. Adding any entailments beyond that is making the situation more complicated than it needs to be, and chances are it will lead to a more vicious form of envy as well. So long as you limit your admiration to a good-natured desire to obtain the same characteristic, you can seek to better yourself without having any vicious sentiments.  

When we look at envy in this light it seems odd that no one really uses the word envy in this way today. A likely reason for this is that it is probably difficult to have this form of envy often without starting to slip into more vicious form of envy: once you begin to envy the person instead of the trait you have become less virtuous.  We recognize the danger of this other form of envy and use different ways to describe object-envy in an attempt to isolate the two. While this isn’t a bad thing, I would like to see envy used in the object-envy sense and more vicious forms of envy take on a different word – a word like jealousy that is unable to shake its negative connotation.