RE: Pride - the worst sin according to C.S.Lewis
September 25, 2022 at 8:15 pm
(This post was last modified: September 25, 2022 at 8:16 pm by Belacqua.)
Just to confuse things further, some modern translators use the word "pride" to translate Aristotle's term "megalopsyche."
Literally, as you can see, it just means "great-souled." "Pride" is an extremely misleading translation. Other books translate it as "magnanimous," which is the exact Latin equivalent, but this word too has a different meaning in modern English. The modern English means something closer to "generous." A megalopsyche person will definitely be magnanimous, but they're not equivalent words.
Megalopsychia is not an attitude, as modern pride is. It is a condition. And it's something you have to be born into, and very lucky to get. Basically Aristotle is imagining what it would be like to born with all the luck. It would be a man who is born rich, talented, politically connected, handsome, etc. etc. Just everything an ancient Greek in the polis would want.
Aristotle doesn't so much aspire to make us like these people, as to imagine what a person in this condition would do, and what his responsibilities would be. It's a kind of imaginary limit-case. "If you had it all, what would you do with it?" Many of his answers are surprising.
Anyway, that's just another case when translators' use of the word "pride" can be misleading if we're not careful.
Literally, as you can see, it just means "great-souled." "Pride" is an extremely misleading translation. Other books translate it as "magnanimous," which is the exact Latin equivalent, but this word too has a different meaning in modern English. The modern English means something closer to "generous." A megalopsyche person will definitely be magnanimous, but they're not equivalent words.
Megalopsychia is not an attitude, as modern pride is. It is a condition. And it's something you have to be born into, and very lucky to get. Basically Aristotle is imagining what it would be like to born with all the luck. It would be a man who is born rich, talented, politically connected, handsome, etc. etc. Just everything an ancient Greek in the polis would want.
Aristotle doesn't so much aspire to make us like these people, as to imagine what a person in this condition would do, and what his responsibilities would be. It's a kind of imaginary limit-case. "If you had it all, what would you do with it?" Many of his answers are surprising.
Anyway, that's just another case when translators' use of the word "pride" can be misleading if we're not careful.
