Many psychological philosophers have spoken about the logic of emotions. Anger is a response to injustice, fear a response to danger, lust a need to reproduce. Hate is akin to anger, yet one can express hatred to a person one has never met or an idea not yet heard.
Operating on the assumption (which may not be reasonable) that there is a logic to hatred, what might that reasoning be?
Is hatred simple retribution? A gang member is killed in a fight, so the grieving gang must get revenge on the gang who killed, which leads to revenge back. This leads to a perpetual feud and mutual hatred between the groups. It is "eye for an eye" gone out of control.
Is hatred a result of misplaced personal identity? Homophobia seems to be a form of this, where those who are most clearly homophobic are those most struggling with homosexual desires. These desires do not fit the identity of the person having these desires, so he projects all his anger at himself on others who freely express those desires.
Could hatred be the result of fear? The connection between fear and anger has long been noted, that one tends to be angry at what one is most afraid of. This is especially true when one's security is threatened (or imagined to be threatened), and so one reacts with hatred to that which is assumed to cause insecurity or threatens. Certainly Hitler feared the Jews and assumed that they had power to economically control Germany's destiny, which the Nazis feared, thus fueling their hatred.
Could hatred be a response to any stripping away of any human need? When a person has what they consider to be a basic need taken from them, or they are denied the opportunity to meet their need, they respond with anger and violence. Perhaps hatred of those previously unknown is the assumption that that person or group will take away from them what they need. The KKK assumed that blacks were naturally violent and sexually deviant and so they had to protect themselves. A black man values respect and he assumes that no white man will ever give him the respect he is due so he has a hatred of white men. Cultural misunderstandings could perpetuate this.
Or is hatred simply without reason? We draw up excuses for why we hate another but the actual reason for hatred is lacking, it being just an anger that cannot be controlled?
