μισάνθρωπος

Misanthrope combines Greek misein (to hate) with anthrōpos (human being). The compound is ancient — Plato uses misanthrōpia in the Phaedo to describe the condition of someone who has been repeatedly disappointed by other people and has decided they are all worthless. Plato's misanthrope is not born hating people. The misanthrope is made by experience. Each betrayal, each disappointment, each lie adds to the evidence until the conclusion becomes inescapable.

Shakespeare's Timon of Athens (1607) is the English stage's most thorough misanthrope. Timon begins as extravagantly generous, is abandoned by his friends when his money runs out, and retires to a cave to curse humanity. Timon's misanthropy is the direct result of betrayed generosity — he gave everything, received nothing, and concluded that human beings are not worth the effort.

Molière's Le Misanthrope (1666) is subtler. Alceste does not hate all people indiscriminately. He hates flattery, insincerity, and the social performance of caring. He is in love with Célimène, a woman who embodies everything he claims to despise. The play's comedy comes from the gap between his stated principles and his actual desires. Alceste is right about the world. He is wrong about himself.

The word entered English directly from Greek in the sixteenth century. It has never lost its clinical edge — calling someone a misanthrope is not quite an insult, but it is not a compliment either. The word describes a diagnosis more than a character flaw. The misanthrope has reasons. The question is whether the reasons are sufficient.