[Music] hubris leads to nemesis overconfidence excessive pride arrogance whatever you want to call it it is often excused as a personality trait that gifts the other person with the ability to get things done lead the way or turn make deals and this is often true but as Ingrid Rosselini remarks in an article on ego and impulse when politicians claim to be making a decision from their gut history tells us that we should be highly skeptical overreaching especially when in the public eye what the greeks called hubris leads to the dangför not just of the self
but of the community in ancient Athens Socrates warned against Sophists who didn't believe in anything but personal gain and well-versed in the ability to twist an argument to suit their needs when personal gain is stretched too far though and the expense of the community hubris sets in and a hubris can only be met with nemesis The Fool the ancient Greeks whose democracy lasted for two hundred years were especially wary of hubris which was seen to be punished by the goddess of retribution nemesis leaders in particular are often accused of hubristic behavior in kershel titled his
two-part biography of Hitler hubris and nemesis and Napoleon Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire's dang fools and declines have been described as hubristic one of the earliest references to hubris or Hybris occurs in Homer's Odyssey written in the eighth century BC and arguably along with the Iliad the oldest and first examples of Western literature in Homer's Odyssey the suitors of Penelope feast and drink excessive leading Athena to remark that they seemed to be feasting Hybris on ttis after that the word becomes increasingly common in Greek literature and politics for her editors hubris was also
used to describe a group of men accosting girls lecherously and in the plays of a skelos hubris is used to describe excessive lust in Sophocles his story King Creon accuses Antigone of hubris when she buries her brother Pauline ekeus against the Kings wishes so abroad Greek definition of hubris his personal excess and self-indulgence in contrast to rational self control or morality in fact it was so important to the Athenians that it was written into Athenian law if anyone high brizi against anyone either child or woman or man free or slave or does anything illegal against
any of these let anyone who wishes of these Athenians who are entitled to prosecute him before the theft Moffet I what's interesting though as Douglass and McDowell has noted is that hubris is not defined it is taken for granted that everyone knows what it means that it's in the common usage and regarded as important the trial of Medea provides us with an insight into how the Athenians thought of both hubris and democracy in 348 BC madea's a wealthy Athenian punched demouth thiness in the theatre of dionysus demouth eNOS brought charges upon the diocese claiming this
was a public salt against a public figure and therefore an assault on democracy itself an act of hubris the mustiness claimed that Medea was an anti-democratic elitist figure using his vast power against a humble public servant he tells the jury we are indeed both elite and both powerful but I'm a defender of the democracy while he hopes to destroy it medius is powerful because of wealth demouth eNOS is powerful only because the demos backs him demouth eNOS claims that rich aristocrats like medius want to force their hierarchical approach to the world into Athenian democracy only
the collective is strong enough to withstand this moral attack in a rousing speech that is worth quoting at length the mustiness asks and what is the power of the laws is it that if any of you is attacked and gives a shout that they will come running to your aid no they are just inscribed letters and have no ability to do that what then is their motive power you are if you secure them and make them authoritative whenever anyone asks for aid so the laws are powerful through you and you through the laws you must
therefore stand up for them in just the same way as any individual would stand up for himself if attacked you must take the view that offenses against the law are common concerns we don't know much about the outcome of the trial but damn athena see the won the case or received an out-of-court settlement what's most interesting about Greek hubris is that it's a common misconception that hubris results in punishment from the gods while this is true in some cases the truth is much more powerful hubris is much more commonly referred to as the risk of
the destruction of the community the fall of the Polish arrogance that is punished by others nemesis then doesn't come from the gods but the people because for the Greeks the policy is an inherent part of man as demoscene as speech illustrates a man's descent into hubris leads him to madness man cannot live like the balance of the community hubris may be summed up as delusions of grandeur that can lead to madness like Icarus whose father warned him not to fly too close to the Sun but who ignored his advice melted his wings and fell to
his death or Apollo's son Phaeton who pleaded with his father to let him fly the chariot that dragged the Sun across the sky Apollo after much resistance obliged but Phaeton was too young and inexperienced and scorched the earth by losing control of the chariots Zeus had to strike Phaeton with a thunderbolt to avert disaster these ancient myths warned against hubris but they aren't just myths the psychologist Wilfred Owen believes that hubris is actually a syndrome a personality disorder exhibited in leaders with qualities like charisma and self-confidence that begin to display an antithesis with symptoms like
impetuosity a refusal to listen impulsivity recklessness or a contempt for others Owen argues that Richard Nixon Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair among others all succumbed to hubris Owen also claims that dictators are particularly prone to hubris because there are less constraints on their behavior Athenian democracy lasted for around 200 years about as long as our Western democracies and many of their myths philosophies and language have shaped the modern world lasting to this day so taking notes of what the Greeks but emphasis on and lamenting over what let's their decline is probably something that should guide
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