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. The proverb "pride goeth (goes) before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (from the biblical Book of Proverbs, 16:18) is thought to sum up the modern use of hubris. The accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in Greek mythology. Sometimes a person's hubris is also associated with ignorance. Hubris is often associated with a lack of humility. In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition of hubris to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence". This concept of honour is akin to a zero-sum game. 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. Ĭrucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of honour (τιμή, timē) and shame (αἰδώς, aidōs). 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. Hubris is not the requital of past injuries this is revenge. 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. 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: In ancient Athens, hubris was defined as the use of violence to shame the victim (this sense of hubris could also characterize rape). Aeschines brought this suit against Timarchus to bar him from the rights of political office and his case succeeded. 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. 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. Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of Demosthenes, a prominent statesman and orator in ancient Greece. In legal terms, hubristic violations of the law included what might today be termed assault-and- battery, sexual crimes, or the theft of public or sacred property. Shame was frequently reflected upon the perpetrator, as well. In some contexts, the term had a sexual connotation. 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. In legal usage, it meant assault or sexual crimes and theft of public property, and in religious usage it meant transgression against a god. The term hubris originated in Ancient Greek, where it had several different meanings depending on the context. The adjectival form of the noun hubris/ hybris is hubristic/ hybristic. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities. 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. Īccording to studies, 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. The term pretension is also associated with the term hubris, but is not synonymous with it. To make undue claims to having", or "to claim or seize without right. To arrogate means "to claim or seize without justification.
The term arrogance comes from the Latin adrogare, meaning "to feel that one has a right to demand certain attitudes and behaviors from other people". Hubris ( / ˈ h juː b r ɪ s/ from Ancient Greek ὕβρις ( húbris) 'pride, insolence, outrage'), or less frequently hybris ( / ˈ h aɪ b r ɪ s/), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The spiritual descent of Lucifer into Satan, one of the most famous examples of hubris. Illustration for John Milton's Paradise Lost by Gustave Doré (1866).