Can We Stop the Hubris Syndrome?

Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Tyrants - How Can We Save Rational Discourse?

Dear Classical Wisdom Reader,

What do George W. Bush, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon all have in common?

Besides being American presidents, they all displayed hubristic traits... the first tendency towards developing what former Foreign Secretary and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party, Lord David Owen described as the “Hubris Syndrome”. 

The concept is simple enough, especially for us ancient Greek lovers. In the words of Lord Owen: 

‘Hubris’ is not as yet an accepted medical term. The most basic meaning, developed in ancient Greece, is simply as a description of an act: a hubristic act was one in which a powerful figure, puffed up with overweening pride and self-confidence, treated others with insolence and contempt. The individual seemed to derive pleasure from using his power to treat others in this way, but such dishonouring behaviour was strongly condemned in ancient Greece. 

In a famous passage from Plato’s Phaedrus, a predisposition to hubris is defined: ‘When desire irrationally drags us toward pleasures and rules within us, its rule is called excess [hubris]’.

The pattern of the hubristic career is one that will immediately strike a chord in anyone who has studied the history of political leaders. It is an occupational hazard for all leaders, whether political, business, military or academic, although not all such leaders develop the hubris syndrome. Many politicians at times, however, do manifest some characteristic of hubristic behaviour.

As another Lord (Acton) succinctly and famously put it:

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Essentially, the Hubris Syndrome often occurs when someone is in power... and the longer that person is in control as well as the greater power they exercise, the more likely this Hubris Syndrome will manifest. 

The implications of such a syndrome don’t need to be spelled out, especially for those of us who know the importance of studying the past… but what can we do about it?  

So this President’s Day I ask you, dear reader, about the Hubris Syndrome: 

Is Hubris of those in power inevitable? How does it manifest in history versus in our modern era? And knowing how dangerous it can be to civility and reason, how can we possibly prevent or stop it once it occurs?

You can write to me directly or reply to this email with your thoughts... 

You can also join me on March 11th to discuss this topic with Lord David Owen himself, as I will be hosting an exclusive Q&A with him for our upcoming Plato’s Academy Centre Conference, which is co-hosted by Classical Wisdom :

Lord David Owen is uniquely knowledgable about this topic, as he served as Foreign Secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979, and co-founded as well as led the Social Democratic Party in the UK. He is the author of Balkan Odyssey, The Hubris Syndrome, In Sickness and In Power, Time to Declare, and most recently, Riddle, Mystery and Enigma. 

For those of you who have read his books, you may already know how much philosophy and the Classics have shaped Lord Owen’s perspective... which is why I asked him to join our conference to discuss how we can save rational discourse, something I think we can all agree is of the upmost importance in this day and age.

You can register to watch Lord David Owen, along with Spencer Klavan, Tom Morris, Josiah Ober and Diane Kalen-Sukra to name a few more... this March 11th: 

I hope you can come along - it will most certainly be a fascinating discussion. As usual, if you register in advance, we will supply the recordings afterwards, even if you can’t join us live.

Now, onto an eclectic mailbag below. Please enjoy! 

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom 

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Monday Mailbag

On Love: 

Not to break your bubble or anything, but all of those definitions or love describe an emotional state. Love is not an emotion, it is a state of being, much like peace.

Clark V.

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Hi, 

I always enjoy reading Classical Wisdom, but I was surprised that, in the references to influences of Ovid's poem on later literature (Shakespeare, etc.), there was no mention of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (nor of My Fair Lady!).

Regards,

Denis

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I found Katherine Smyth's article on Ovid quite refreshing, especially, from my perspective, that romantic love began with him during that period of Rome followed many years later by the Troubadours.  Of course such love is romantic in that it has many taboos, which one should not be doing for the sake of societal order.  I do know Augustus did not approve of Ovid at all.  Also, did not the style of Alexandrine Poetry continue with Ovid and eventually Alexander Pope, a style complex and unique but good for satire?  This is such a question that comes to mind after reading the article.

Herman, H, San Francisco

On Narcissism:

Dear Anya,

I have had the misfortune of dealing with several people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder in my life.  It is a serious and destructive personality disorder and, based on my research a few years ago, considered untreatable because the person with the disorder believes they are perfect in every way and anyone who thinks otherwise is obviously inferior to them.  

There is a vast difference between being a self-centered person who expects people to give them what they want and being a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  

One 'definition' I heard in a discussion of this that has stuck with me is that if you tell a 'normal' person they can't come in, they may ask why but they will accept the boundary that's been set.   If you tell someone with NPD they can't come in, they will try to break the door down. If you bolt the door, they will try the windows. If you board up and bolt the windows, they will try to make a hole in the roof.  If that's an impossible route, they will burn the house down but they WILL get in because obsessively defeating the boundary you set becomes their objective, not the reason they wanted to come in.   

Classic narcissism is extremely destructive.

It is such a serious personality disorder that labeling someone with it in a group emailing from an organization such as the one you represent may not be the wisest choice. It is a much more serious mental health disorder than simply being self-centered. An analogy would be to publicly label someone who gained a few pounds over Christmas, "obese".   

Susan W.

On the Limits of Caring:

Funnily enough some neighbors in our apartment building were talking about this very subject this morning. Is it denial towards all the horrible events taking place, natural or otherwise or just callousness as suggested? Many friends have even quit watching or listening to the daily news.  We were living in London, England at the time of the Prague Spring and couldn’t get the news so we had to go to the French news sources to get the details… Why, you ask? There were major Cricket matches going on...go figure.

Plus ça change plus c’est la même choses

Elsebeth M.

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I do really enjoy and agree with your view of history. I am not an historian, but I think it is by chance how the masses suffer from tragedies and it is quite sad; meanwhile, we are inundated with the Grammy’s, etc. In my view, the vast majority of people are what I call followers anyway.  They are victims.

Why does the leadership deteriorate? Our founders tried to answer that, to have a Republic, not a Democracy. They studied history and debated and tried real hard to get it right. They are imperfect, as we all are, and have to improve and learn from our mistakes.

There is no qualification required to run for office. There is no qualification on who gets to vote. Meanwhile, hairdressers have to get a license. Our education for the masses continues to worsen. I can go on. Sorry. America is doomed, I do not know when. All you need do is compare Trump and Biden to our past leaders.

Larry S.

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Maybe some of us just care MORE? Or maybe those who don't show it care... and cover it up with the grammy news. Maybe for them it's easier to hide emotion than to show it. 

𝕃𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕙