This is a book by Aaron James, and last week I saw the 2019 documentary on the book. I didn't know about this philosophical area of study. And the documentary shows how companies practice 'no-asshole' hiring, etc. given it is on the rise everywhere.
The book has been around a while - it was written in 2012. James' being an academic philosopher, he has an academic definition of the term. I haven't found out how he chose the word for the area of behaviour. In our current context, it makes complete sense to me.
How does he define asshole? ... according to James, an asshole "allows himself to enjoy special advantages in social relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people."
I found him on Reddit answering questions. That was 11 years ago, when the book came out. Such good questions and answers. Here are a few:
How does one study assholes? I suppose ahole study starts in studying language, especially foul language, but also ethical discourse. There's a large body of philosophical literature on "expressionism" versus "cognitivism" about ethical language, some of which applies to foul words. And there's language studies of various sorts on swear words like "asshole" in particular. Plenty of moral and political philosophy through the ages has asshole-like characters.
What's the most common type of asshole? The most common type might be the "smug asshole," who styles himself as superior to others in one way or another, say, for being richer or smarter or better looking. But I'm not sure.
What are other titles you considered before settling on this one? I thought of On Assholes, which is a little high brow. I also thought of Asshole, singular, but found it too jarring. But Assholes, plural, seemed to more clearly pick out a type of person. The title is a bit jarring as the term is often used as a term of abuse, so to express feelings of disapproval. My claim is that it also has "cognitive" content, and so classifies people in a particular way, which might be correct or incorrect, whether or not one disapproves of being a member of the type.
Do you think that being an asshole has become a necessary evil in certain parts of our society? Perhaps in politics, you have to act like an asshole these days to "get things done." Perhaps Obama hasn't succeeded as much as he might have for not being more of one--more like LBJ. People do say this anyway, though, in politics, there's a lot of real cooperation behind the scenes. Perhaps it is also true in corporate life that you don't seem serious unless you are pushing boundaries, and so that assholes that do are rewarded more than they were before.
Five years later, he wrote Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump by Aaron James. Here's the synopsis of the book:
"Make America Great Again? Donald Trump is an asshole is a fact widely agreed upon—even by his supporters, who actually like that about him. But his startling political rise makes the question of just what sort of asshole he is, and how his assholedom may help to explain his success, one not just of philosophical interest but of almost existential urgency."
The reddit link is HERE. It is amazing that Reddit actually has something worth reading.
