Ressentiment and Ideologically Motivated Violence

The aim of the article is to explain, on the basis of the concept of ressentiment, the relations linking inferiority with fundamentalism, fanaticism and ideologically motivated violence. The author of the article puts forward a hypothesis regarding the sources of the latter phenomenon. The hypothesis is: in a situation where the fundamentalist values born of ressentiment and their legitimations cannot stand in the face of the doubts provided by other fundamentalisms (other competing visions of the world), faith in their metaphysical grounding is sharpened. The sharpening of faith is fol-lowed by fanatical activity aimed at dispelling the doubts that have arisen. This fanatical activity is not only an intellectual protection against doubts arising from a given fundamentalism, but a re-sponse to the external threats that may result in loss of faith. When threats are "serious", that is, when they strongly affect the worldview built on the values generated by ressentimental revaluation, they must result in frustration (related to the pain of inferiority), which under favourable circum-stances turns into aggression and violence.