View source for Hubris

{{short description|Extreme pride or overconfidence, often in combination with arrogance}}
{{other uses}}
{{Redirect|Arrogance}}
{{Original research|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Paradise Lost 12.jpg|thumb|Illustration for [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' by [[Gustave Doré]] (1866). The spiritual descent of [[Lucifer]] into [[Satan]] is one of the most famous examples of hubris.]]
{{Emotions}}
'''Hubris''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|juː|b|r|ɪ|s}}; {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|ὕβρις}}'' ({{grc-transl|ὕβρις}})|pride, insolence, outrage}}), or less frequently '''hybris''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aɪ|b|r|ɪ|s}}),<ref name="collins">{{cite Collins Dictionary|hybris}}</ref> is extreme or excessive [[pride]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Examples and Definition of Hubris in Literature |url=https://literarydevices.net/hubris/ |website=Literary Devices |date=2020-12-01 |language=en-US |access-date=2021-04-23}}</ref> or dangerous [[Confidence|overconfidence]] and [[wikt:complacency|complacency]],<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|hubris|access-date=2016-04-22}}</ref> often in combination with (or synonymous with) '''arrogance'''.<ref name="Picone">{{cite journal |last1=Picone|first1=P. M. |last2=Dagnino|first2=G. B. |last3=Minà|first3=A. |title=The origin of failure: A multidisciplinary appraisal of the hubris hypothesis and proposed research agenda |journal=[[Academy of Management Perspectives]] |date=2014 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=447–468 |doi=10.5465/amp.2012.0177}}</ref>

Hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for victory (even if it does not always mean winning) instead of reconciliation, which "friendly" groups might promote.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201705/what-makes-the-arrogant-person-so-arrogant |title=What Makes the Arrogant Person So Arrogant? |website=[[Psychology Today]] |language=en |access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref> Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer collateral consequences from wrongful acts. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments, or capabilities.

The term ''hubris'' originated in [[Ancient Greek]],<ref name="superstition2" /> where it had several different meanings depending on the context. In legal usage, it meant assault or sexual crimes and theft of public property,<ref name="superstition3" /> and in religious usage it meant [[wikt:emulation|emulation]] of divinity or transgression against a god.<ref name="superstition4" />

== Ancient Greek origin ==
In [[ancient Greek]], ''hubris'' referred to "outrage": actions that violated natural order, or which shamed and humiliated the victim, sometimes for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser. 

=== Mythological usage ===
[[File:Atlas Typhoeus Prometheus.png|thumb|[[Black-figure pottery]] (550 BC) depicting [[Prometheus]] serving his sentence, tied to a column]]
[[Hesiod]] and [[Aeschylus]] used the word "hubris" to describe transgressions against the gods.<ref name=superstition4>Eds., [https://www.britannica.com/topic/hubris "Hubris"], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref> A common way that hubris was committed was when a mortal claimed to be better than a god in a particular skill or attribute. Claims like these were rarely left unpunished, and so [[Arachne]], a talented young weaver, was transformed into a spider when she said that her skills exceeded those of the goddess [[Athena]]. Additional examples include [[Icarus]], [[Phaethon]], [[Salmoneus]], [[Niobe]], [[Cassiopeia (Queen of Aethiopia)|Cassiopeia]], [[Tantalus]], and [[Tereus]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Roman|first1=Luke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC&q=%22Hubris%22+Icarus,+Phaethon,+Salmoneus,+Niobe,+Cassiopeia,+Tantalus|title=Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology|last2=Roman|first2=Monica|date=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1438126395|language=en}}</ref>  

The goddess [[Hybris (mythology)|Hybris]] is described in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] as having "insolent encroachment upon the rights of others".<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Themis |volume=26 |page=758}}</ref>

These events were not limited to myth, and certain figures in history were considered to have been punished for committing hubris through their arrogance. One such person was the king [[Xerxes I]] as portrayed in Aeschylus's play ''[[The Persians]]'', and who allegedly threw chains to [[Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges|bind the Hellespont]] sea as punishment for daring to destroy his fleet.<ref>[[Charles Spurgeon|Spurgeon, C. H.]], ''The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit—Sermons Preached and Revised by C. H. Spurgeon, During the Year 1877'', Volume 23 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1878), [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sermons_of_the_Rev_C_H_Spurgeon_of_Londo/QSlOAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA303&printsec=frontcover p. 303].</ref>

What is common in all of these examples is the breaching of limits, as the Greeks believed that the [[Moirai|Fates]] (Μοῖραι) had assigned each being with a particular area of freedom, an area that even the gods could not breach.<ref>[[Cornelius Castoriadis]]. Ce qui fait la Grèce, tome 1: D'Homère à Héraclite, chapitre V. Editeur: Seuil (9 mars 2004).</ref>

=== Legal usage ===
[[File:Νέμεσις πατά την Ύβριν, ρωμαϊκό αναθεματικό ανάγλυφο, 2ος αι.μ.Χ., Πάτρα 01.jpg|thumb|Votive relief of [[Nemesis]] as protector of gladiators treading on Hubris, 2nd-century, [[Archaeological Museum of Patras]], [[Greece]]]]

In [[ancient Athens]], hubris was defined as the use of violence to shame the victim (this sense of hubris could also characterize rape).<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Hubris|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/hubris|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=21 April 2016}}</ref> In legal terms, hubristic violations of the law included what might today be termed [[assault]]-and-[[Battery (crime)|battery]], sexual crimes, or the theft of public or sacred property. In some contexts, the term had a sexual connotation.<ref name="superstition2">{{cite book |first=David |last=Cohen |chapter=Law, society and homosexuality or hermaphrodity in Classical Athens |title=Studies in ancient Greek and Roman society |editor-link=Robin Osborne |editor-first=Robin |editor-last=Osborne |page=61–77 [p. 64] |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-521-83769-3 }}</ref> Shame was frequently reflected upon the perpetrator, as well.<ref>{{cite book|title=Nomos: Essays in Athenian Law, Politics and Society|last=Cartledge|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Cartledge|author2=Paul Millett|year= 2003|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn= 978-0521522090|page= 123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nCSw5Cr4PUC&pg=PA123|access-date= 2011-11-14|author2-link= Paul Millett}}</ref>

Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of [[honour]] (τιμή, ''timē'') and shame (αἰδώς, ''[[aidos|aidōs]]''). The concept of honour included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honour, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honour is akin to a [[zero-sum]] game. [[Rush Rehm]] simplifies this definition of hubris to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehm |first1=Rush |author-link=Rush Rehm|title=Radical Theatre: Greek Tragedy in the Modern World |date=2014 |publisher=A&C Black |via=Google Books |isbn=978-1472502339 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eanAgAAQBAJ&q=Rush+Rehm+hubris&pg=PA75 |access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of [[Demosthenes]], a prominent statesman and orator in ancient [[Greece]]. These two examples occurred when first [[Midias]] punched Demosthenes in the face in the theatre (''[[Against Midias]]''), and second when (in ''Against Conon'') a defendant allegedly assaulted a man and crowed over the victim. Yet another example of hubris appears in [[Aeschines]]' ''[[Against Timarchus]]'', where the defendant, Timarchus, is accused of breaking the law of hubris by submitting himself to [[prostitution]] and anal intercourse. Aeschines brought this suit against Timarchus to bar him from the rights of political office and his case succeeded.<ref name="superstition3">Aeschines "Against Timarchus" from ''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents'' by [[Thomas Hubbard (historian)]] {{ISBN?}} {{page?|date=December 2022}}</ref> [[Aristotle]] defined hubris as shaming the victim, not because of anything that happened to the committer or might happen to the committer, but merely for that committer's own gratification:

<blockquote>to cause shame to the victim, not in order that anything may happen to you, nor because anything has happened to you, but merely for your own gratification. Hubris is not the requital of past injuries; this is revenge. As for the pleasure in hubris, its cause is this: naive men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater.<ref>[[Aristotle]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0060%3Abekker+page%3D1378b ''Rhetoric'' 1378b].</ref><ref name="law">{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=David|title=Law, Violence, and Community in Classical Athens|page=145|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJ9GjorvJGkC&pg=PA145|isbn=0521388376|access-date=March 6, 2016}}</ref><ref name="eros">{{cite book|last=Ludwig|first=Paul W.|title=Eros and Polis: Desire and Community in Greek Political Theory|page=178|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvqTEy-til8C&pg=PA172|isbn=1139434179|access-date=March 6, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Skof|authorlink=:sl:Lenart Škof|first1=Lenart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y78TEAAAQBAJ&q=%22Hubris%22+%22naive+men+think+that+by+ill-treating+others+they+make+their+own+superiority+the+greater%22&pg=PA58|title=Shame, Gender Violence, and Ethics: Terrors of Injustice|last2=Hawke|first2=Shé M.|date=2021|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-1793604682|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Early Christianity===
In the [[Septuagint]], the "hubris is [[wikt:overweening|overweening]] pride, [[wikt:supercilious|supercilious]]ness or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or [[wikt:nemesis|nemesis]]". The word ''hubris'' as used in the [[New Testament]] parallels the Hebrew word ''pesha'', meaning "transgression". It represents a pride that "makes a man defy God", sometimes to the degree that he considers himself an equal.<ref name=superstition6>[[Stanley J. Grenz]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=NAPrXVh_56wC&q=hubris&pg=PA183 ''Theology for the Community of God''], Pub: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000 – "The Greek word ''hubris'', which occurs occasionally in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 27:10, 21; 2 Cor.12:10). parallels the Hebrew ''pasha''. William Barclay offers a helpful definition of the term. ''Hubris'', he writes, 'is mingled pride and cruelty. ''Hubris'' is the pride which makes a man defy God, and the arrogant contempt which makes him trample on the hearts of his fellow men.' [...] Hence, it is the forgetting of personal creatureliness and the attempt to be equal with God."</ref>

== Modern usage ==
In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance.<ref name="Picone"/> Hubris is also referred to as "pride that blinds" because it often causes a committer of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense.<ref>{{cite journal |title= The 1920 Farrow's Bank Failure: A Case of Managerial Hubris|journal= Journal of Management History|volume= 20|issue= 2|pages= 164–178|url= https://www.academia.edu/6081830|publisher= Durham University |access-date= October 1, 2014|last1= Hollow|first1= Matthew|year= 2014|doi= 10.1108/JMH-11-2012-0071}}</ref>
=== Arrogance ===
{{wikt | arrogance}}
The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] defines "arrogance" in terms of "high or inflated opinion of one's own abilities, importance, etc., that gives rise to presumption or excessive self-confidence, or to a feeling or attitude of being superior to others [...]."<ref>{{oed | arrogance}}</ref> Adrian Davies sees arrogance as more generic and less severe than hubris.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Adrian
 | year = 2011
 | chapter = How Can Human Nature and Corporate Governance Be Reconciled?
 | title = The Globalisation of Corporate Governance: The Challenge of Clashing Cultures
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4nC1CwAAQBAJ
 | edition = reprint
 | location = London
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2016
 | page = 68
 | isbn = 978-1317030102
 | access-date = 22 August 2020
 | quote = [...] hubris – a form of overweening pride and arrogance. [...] In modern usage hubris is an extreme form of arrogance, often in the face of facts [...].
}}
</ref>

==See also==
* [[Overconfidence effect]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Nick Fisher (historian)|Nick Fisher]], ''Hybris: A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece'', Warminster, Aris & Phillips, 1992. {{ISBN?}}
* {{cite journal |last=Cairns |first=Douglas L. |authorlink=Douglas Cairns|title=''Hybris'', Dishonour, and Thinking Big |journal=[[The Journal of Hellenic Studies]] |volume=116 |year=1996 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.2307/631953 |jstor=631953 |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/11874467/Hybris_Dishonour_and_Thinking_Big.pdf |hdl=20.500.11820/d7c5e485-cef7-490a-b67d-1b1eb4a200ef |s2cid=59361502 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last=MacDowell |first=Douglas |authorlink=Douglas MacDowell |title=''Hybris'' in Athens |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=23 |year=1976 |issue=1 |pages=14–31 |doi=10.1017/S0017383500018210 |s2cid=163033169 }}
* Michael DeWilde, [https://docshare.tips/hubris_577c5c73b6d87f76798b4917.html "The Psychological and Spiritual Roots of a Universal Affliction"]
* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/274625/hubris Hubris] on 2012's ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* {{cite web|title= How to Use Hubris Correctly|website= Grammarist|date= 24 September 2017|url= https://grammarist.com/usage/hubris/}}
* [[Robert A. Stebbins]], [https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/L5HhDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1 ''From Humility to Hubris among Scholars and Politicians: Exploring Expressions of Self-Esteem and Achievement'']. [[Bingley|Bingley, UK]]: [[Emerald Group Publishing]], 2017. {{ISBN?}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|hubris}}
{{wikiquote}}
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* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

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[[Category:Narcissism]]
[[Category:Barriers to critical thinking]]
[[Category:Pride]]
[[Category:Psychological attitude]]
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[[Category:Seven deadly sins]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek ethics]]