Pride - Virtue or Vice?

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.

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[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.'