The Trouble with Ressentiment

The article comprises an attempt to interpret the conception of ressentiment created by Friedrich Nietzsche. This interpretation concentrates on the analysis of one of the revaluation of values mechanisms, namely their compensatory transformation. The text tries also to demonstrate in what way this mechanism can lead to connecting ressentiment with the phenomena of fundamentalism and fanaticism. The aim of this interpretation of the conception of ressentiment is to sketch the conditions in which ressentiment could entail violence, what was pointed at many times by researchers studying the phenomenon, including the most famous one of them – Roger Scruton (who sees it as one of the causes of terrorism). The interpretation of the conception of ressentiment present in the paper refers not only to philosophical analyses of this phenomenon but also to the research of the socio-psychologists and sociologists, which is essential for this issue. Therefore, in the context of the research on ressentiment the proposed interpretation addresses the problems of the methodological-axiological nature, which are connected with obtaining knowledge on sensitive subjects. The problem of ressentiment is one of such issues