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The following reflections were prompted by listening to a series of discussions which were held in the winter of 1969 by the British Psychoanalytic Society on the subject of jealousy and envy. The rival points of view of what Ernest Jones used to call the London and Viennese schools of thought were presented. As each side proceeded from its established major premise, it is not surprising that each became more established in its conclusions. Possibly bebecause of these theoretical preoccupations, it was noteworthy that the central fact about jealousy and envy was not mentioned. The purpose of this essay is to repair that omission.
In continuing the discussion I am, so to speak, extending the discussion backward, as I shall present the viewpoint of “common sense,” in the literal meaning of that phrase—communis sensus. The phrase implies more than “opinions held in common”; it includes also, as C. S. Lewis7 has shown, that knowledge which is derived from the five senses. The phrase is a literal translation of its Greek forerunner, koine aisthesis, which implies the feelings or sense impressions that men have shared in common. This distilled knowledge of the ages is what we call common sense. The question then is, what is it that “all men, at all times and in all places, have believed”? The answer is that there is an intimate and indissoluble link between jealousy and envy and the sense of sight. Indeed, we cannot begin to understand the concept of envy without seeing this connection. Further, it is only by noting this link that we begin to discern the gradations between jealousy and envy.