Contempt occupies a distinctive and underexplored position in the depth-psychology corpus, distinguished from its neighboring affects — anger, disgust, shame, and humiliation — by its characteristic posture of dismissal rather than engagement. The literature approaches contempt from at least three axes. First, as an interpersonal weapon: Horney’s meticulous clinical phenomenology identifies contempt as both an expression of wounded narcissistic pride directed outward and, in its self-directed form, as a constitutive mechanism of neurotic self-hate, where the tyranny of idealized standards generates a relentless internal tribunal. Second, as a developmental and neurobiological force: Schore situates the contemptuous maternal face — a blend of disgust and rage — at the origin of humiliation and narcissistic rage in the infant, linking it to Kohut’s concept and Lewis’s shame-rage spiral. Third, as a socio-political affect: Lench and colleagues distinguish contempt from anger in collective behavior, noting that while anger motivates direct attack, contempt underwrites distancing, social exclusion, and — crucially — support for violence against civilians rather than combatants. The Gnostic and ascetic traditions contribute a further valence: contempt for the world as metaphysical stance, oscillating between libertine bravado and fearful ascetic withdrawal. Across these registers, contempt consistently marks a boundary — between self and other, worthy and unworthy, sacred and profane — and its pathological forms reveal the cost of maintaining that boundary at the expense of genuine relatedness.