 ERCOLE GRAZIANI JUNIOR (Bologna, 1688 - 1765)The Pride Offending the Virtue |
In
the latest
film version of Jane Austen's
classic 'Pride and Prejudice', the heroine asks her love interest Mr. Darcy:
"would you consider pride a fault or virtue?" It is a question which draws
strong opinions on both sides, at least in Western culture. Aristotle
considered pride the "crowning virtue." Whereas the Judeo-Christian
tradition considers it one of the seven deadly sins – the only one of Aristotle's
virtues which falls into that unsavory category. So which is it? Is pride a
fault or a virtue?
Let's
listen in on Marcus and his colleagues as they debate the issue.
"Vanity and pride are different things,
though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without
being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we
would have others think of us." - Jane Austen, Pride and
Prejudice
Marcus:
"Elizabeth you look very pleased with yourself today. Where have you been?"
Elizabeth:
"I just got back from the courthouse. Another motion hearing, another
victory. You should be proud of me Marcus, that's five wins in a row."
Marcus:
"Why should I be proud of you?"
Elizabeth:
"As my mentor, you should take some credit for me becoming a successful
lawyer. You have taught me how to conduct myself in court, and how to
effectively present legal arguments."
Marcus:
"Well even if all you say is true, your success is not something that I
take pride in."
Maureen:
"Marcus, that doesn't make any sense. As Elizabeth explained, but for your
guidance and teaching, she would not enjoy the success in the same way. We all
want you to be proud of us in that way."
Jacob:
"Yes Marcus we all feel that way. Why don't you take pride in it?"
Marcus:
"To answer your question, we must explore 'pride', what it is and what it
is not. Aristotle said "…the man is thought to be proud who thinks of
himself as worthy of great things, being worthy of them…."[1]
Audrey:
"If I understand that correctly Marcus, the truly proud man is justified
in his view of himself. He not only thinks himself worthy of great things, but
also is in fact worthy of them. This seems to be different than vanity, which
is unjustified pride, or rather false pride."
Elizabeth:
"Yes that seems a fair understanding of Aristotle. But I think there's
more to it than that. For Aristotle, pride is a self-referential virtue. In
other words, the justifiably proud man does not display his pride, because
he does not boast of his achievements. By contrast, the vain man wants us to
recognize and acknowledge him well beyond his worth."
Maureen:
"Yes, I think that's true, and if I remember from my reading of Aristotle
correctly, the awareness that one possesses excellences not shared by many,
makes one stand out among the crowd, even though he never speaks of them."
Marcus:
"Indeed, Aristotle said that the man worthy of pride is not a gossip, and
he will speak neither about himself nor about another, since he cares not to be
praised nor for others to be blamed."[2]
Elizabeth:
"Okay Marcus, I think I'm starting to get it. First, you can't feel pride
for someone else's accomplishments, because those accomplishments and efforts belong
only to the person who has made the effort to achieve those good things.
Second, it would be vain for you to take credit for my accomplishments. In
other words, it would be false pride, as you did not achieve them
yourself. I could have squandered your teachings and failed to utilize them in
my career."
Marcus:
"I agree with you Elizabeth, but there is more to 'pride' for Aristotle.
Aristotle claimed that ‘pride… is a sort of crown of the virtues; for it makes
them greater, and it is not found without them.'"
Jacob:
"Now that I don't understand, Marcus. How can pride be
the crown of the virtues for Aristotle, but also one of the seven deadly sins
in the Judeo-Christian tradition?"
Audrey:
"Yes, 'pride' is not well thought of in our culture. We've all heard the
saying ‘pride goeth before a fall.’"
Maureen:
"And in my reading of the Bible, I must say, there's never anything good
said about pride. But I think I can explain why."
Audrey:
"I'll have to defer to you on that Maureen, I can't remember the last time
I read the Bible."
Maureen:
"In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is to be honored and praised. When
good things happen to you, it is from the grace of God, and he, or she, should get
the credit. Humility is praised, not pride."
Marcus:
"I am not a biblical scholar, but that makes sense to me. It's also
consistent with Aristotle's view of humility. A person who is worthy of great
things, but doesn't consider himself so, is unduly humble according to
Aristotle. For him, that is a defect of character."
Elizabeth:
"Marcus, I'm intrigued by Aristotle calling 'pride' the crown of the
virtues. Does he mean that if we are able to achieve and live by the other
virtues that we should be proud of that? In other words, is that the ultimate
goal?"
Marcus:
"I don't know whether Aristotle would say it was the ultimate goal, but I
think he considered it the virtue that drives us towards perfection. In modern
parlance, we may take pride in our accomplishments when we do the best we can,
and then pride is justified. So for Aristotle, the virtuous man is inherently
'good,' and for that he is justified in being proud. He has earned it."
Audrey:
"That is something my parents drilled into me. Always do the best you can.
I never thought about it in terms of pride, but now that makes sense. They
never encouraged me to take credit or receive honors for something that I was
not worthy of."
Jacob:
"You mean like just showing up, and they give you a trophy? Participation
trophies."[3]
Audrey:
"Exactly!"
Marcus:
"So Elizabeth, did you do your best at those motion hearings?"
Elizabeth:
"I prepared. I argued well. But honestly in two of those hearings the
other side wasn't prepared. It was obvious. So, I think I got lucky on a
couple. Also, it seems that whenever I leave a hearing, I think of things I
could have done better. So I do not think I always did ‘my best.’"
Maureen:
"But that is part of the learning process. We are never perfect. The mere
fact that you reflect on your performance shows that you are trying to do your
best. As lawyers, there is so much that is out of our control. We cannot control
the judge, the jury or our clients. Even if we lose a hearing, or a client is
disappointed in a result, doesn't mean we didn't do our best."
Marcus:
"Maureen makes a good point. Even in losing we can feel pride, if we did
our best. And sometimes in winning, we might not claim being justly proud
because the result was not based primarily on our performance. In those
circumstances we learn true humility. In any case, don't look to others for praise
when you do your best, look in the mirror. "
"I
do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to
myself."-Michel de Montaigne
Pride
can easily be understood as the crown of all virtues, if one comes to
understand as Aristotle did, that it is an internal virtue, earned when achieved
by making your best efforts to be virtuous. Like all of Aristotle’s twelve virtues,
you must find the virtuous mean. There can certainly be unearned, boastful
pride or the in-eloquent humble braggart, but we know when that pride is earned chest-puffing is unnecessary. To answer the question on whether pride
is a virtue or a fault, like the other virtues we have examined here, it
depends how you use it. Lawyers work in both a hated and admired profession. Pride
may be the key to understanding both opinions. Hated for our arrogance and our
greediness, admired for our achievements. But we know not all lawyers are
arrogant or greedy, as much as we know many boast false pride. It is important for us to keep this
in mind when appearing in a professional setting, filing a motion, writing an
email to a client or telling your partner what a great job you did. Pride is a virtue if we use it as a motivational force, and if we keep it in check.
[1]
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics,
Book IV, Chapter 3.
[2]
Id.
[3] In his
book, Restoring
Pride:The Lost Virtue of Our Age, the philosopher, Richard
Taylor, sets forth an unvarnished argument for restoring the virtue of pride in
our culture. For Taylor, pride is 'justified self love', and he uses Socrates,
Beethoven, Picasso and others as exemplars of justified pride. It is Taylor's
contention, reminiscent of Nietzsche, that cultivating pride allows one to
'view one's life as a work of art.'
