Reference reading
Contempt
Treating people as beneath basic respect because their work is less efficient, less technical or replaceable.
The machine finishes first. He is using that fact to decide who deserves a chair.
A habitual disposition to regard other people as beneath basic consideration or respect.
Assessing comparative performance does not deny anyone basic standing.
How it takes hold
A machine finishes first. A comparison of output becomes a judgment of whose presence deserves consideration.
Contempt treats people as beneath basic regard. Predicting changed work differs from using that change to cancel the claims of those involved.
People can lose a hearing when their experience matters most. Respect becomes conditional on performance.
Finding the distinction
Illustrative situation: a tool outperforms a person on a task.
Too contemptuous: the person loses consideration with the task.
Fitting: performance and human claims receive distinct attention.
Overcorrection: relevant differences are concealed.
Arrogance inflates one's judgment; contempt denies another's standing. Defeatism can surrender a purpose without demeaning anyone.
Roles and tasks can change. Honest evaluation need not pretend every performance is equal.
Counterfeit of Discernment: A performance comparison is used to deny the slower worker any hearing. Genuine Discernment separates suitability for a task from basic consideration.
A response that restores something
Separate the value of a task from regard for its maker. Change still needs an account of affected claims.
Hearing people facing a transition improves the account without promising every arrangement will remain.
Courtesy and fairness keep participation from becoming a prize for current productivity.
Other perspectives
the claims of Individuality
John Stuart Mill · On Liberty
Mill defends a place for personal difference. His argument challenges treating a person as worth hearing only when their output wins a productivity comparison.
they were made by ‘common fellows
William Morris · Hopes and Fears for Art
Morris recognizes achievement in ordinary makers. The historical phrase is his challenge to dismissive status judgments.
Read and compare
Am I evaluating a contribution or denying its maker consideration?
Courtesy · Fairness · Humility
These are constructive virtue readings, not a list of automatic opposites. This reference article does not score character or assign a vice to its reader.