Book 4 / Chapter 3
Paragraph 1 - Pride and Worthiness
Explanation - Part By Part
"Pride seems even from its name to be concerned with great things; what sort of great things, is the first question we must try to answer."
Aristotle begins by observing that the very word pride (or megalopsychia, often translated as "great-souledness") suggests something focused on "great things." The first task, he says, is to clarify exactly what these "great things" are that pride concerns itself with.
"It makes no difference whether we consider the state of character or the man characterized by it. Now the man is thought to be proud who thinks himself worthy of great things, being worthy of them; for he who does so beyond his deserts is a fool, but no virtuous man is foolish or silly."
This part explains that when considering "pride," it doesn't matter whether we focus on the person's character or the person themselves—what matters is the alignment between what they believe they deserve and what they actually deserve. A truly proud person is someone who recognizes their worthiness of great things, and importantly, actually is worthy of those things. However, if someone believes they’re worthy of more than they deserve, that person is being foolish—not genuinely virtuous. Virtue, by its nature, involves a sense of balance and wisdom, so no truly virtuous person would lack that understanding or be foolish in this regard.
"The proud man, then, is the man we have described. For he who is worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate, but not proud; for pride implies greatness, as beauty implies a goodsized body, and little people may be neat and well-proportioned but cannot be beautiful."
This part is explaining that true pride is connected to greatness in both thought and worthiness. If someone achieves or is capable of very little but humbly recognizes that (thinking no more or no less of themselves), they are considered "temperate" or balanced. However, they wouldn't be called "proud," because pride involves something larger—both in self-perception and in actual accomplishments.
Aristotle uses an analogy here: just as physical beauty is tied to having a good-sized, proportionately harmonious body, pride requires a combination of greatness in character and a proper assessment of one's worth. A small person can be well-proportioned but, according to the metaphor, they cannot embody "beauty" in the fullest sense that implies grandeur. Similarly, someone with minor achievements or qualities might possess moderation, but they cannot embody the greatness required for true pride.
In other words, pride doesn't reside in what's modest or small—it requires a scale or magnitude to fit its lofty nature.
"On the other hand, he who thinks himself worthy of great things, being unworthy of them, is vain; though not every one who thinks himself worthy of more than he really is worthy of in vain. The man who thinks himself worthy of worthy of less than he is really worthy of is unduly humble, whether his deserts be great or moderate, or his deserts be small but his claims yet smaller."
Aristotle is diving into the concept of how people perceive their own worth compared to what they actually deserve. He introduces two extremes of imbalance here:
1. Vanity: This is when someone thinks they are deserving of great things but, in reality, they are not. Such a person has an inflated sense of their own worth or abilities—they are overestimating themselves. However, Aristotle points out that not everyone who overestimates their worth is necessarily "vain" in the full sense of the word. There’s likely a spectrum of this behavior.
2. Undue Humility: On the flip side, if someone underestimates what they are truly worthy of—whether their actual deserts are modest or significant—they are being excessively humble. This applies to all kinds of cases: whether the person deserves a lot but claims very little, or deserves a little but claims even less. Aristotle specifically highlights that someone with considerable merit, who still underestimates themselves, is especially striking in their undue humility. It makes you wonder: If they downplay themselves despite their significant talents or merits, how small might they think of themselves if they truly had little?
In short, he’s emphasizing the challenge of achieving an accurate and balanced self-assessment. Overestimating or underestimating oneself leads to distortions of character like vanity or excessive humility.
"And the man whose deserts are great would seem most unduly humble; for what would he have done if they had been less? The proud man, then, is an extreme in respect of the greatness of his claims, but a mean in respect of the rightness of them; for he claims what is accordance with his merits, while the others go to excess or fall short."
In this passage, Aristotle is explaining the concept of pride (or "greatness of soul"), focusing on how it connects with a person's sense of worth and how they measure themselves against their true merits or achievements. He makes a few key points:
A person who has great "deserts" (essentially, someone truly worthy of great things) but underestimates themselves (thinks they are worth less than they actually are) is overly humble, and this seems particularly absurd. If someone deserving of great things can't even recognize their worth, how much lower would their self-esteem be if their merits were smaller? Aristotle sees this kind of exaggerated humility as inappropriate because it denies a person's true value.
The "proud man" is the ideal. This person claims great things for themselves, but only if they truly deserve those great things. They are in balance: they correctly evaluate their worth and aren't arrogant (claiming more than they're worth) or falsely modest (claiming less than they're worth). Aristotle describes this balance as being a "mean" between two extremes: excess (arrogance) and deficiency (undue humility).
So, in essence, the proud man is an example of virtuous self-awareness—someone who matches their ambitions and self-assessment to their actual skill, virtue, and achievements. They're neither delusional about their greatness nor excessively self-deprecating.