Posted by
Publius North on Thursday, January 17, 2008 6:37:25 PM
When considering the history of political leaders, one naturally thinks of greatness. Examples include George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and more recently Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. It is arguable that each of these possessed, at least in part, a character that Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, termed Great-Souled.
Among the defining characteristics of the Great-Souled individual are:
"Honor rendered by common people and on trivial grounds he will utterly despise….."
He will "feel anger on the right grounds and against the right persons, and also in the right manner and at the right moment for the right length of time."
"…. Great-souled men art thought to be haughty."
"But it is also true that (his) conduct is often guided by the interests of his friends and of his country, and that he will if necessary lay down his life in their behalf. For he will surrender wealth and power and all the goods that men struggle to win, if he can secure nobility for himself; since he would prefer an hour of rapture to a long period of mild enjoyment, a year of noble life to many years of ordinary existence, on great and glorious exploit to many small successes."
Necessarily, while the Great-Souled man must give due consideration to wealth, and other material matters, he would go into politics and not be a professional man of business.
One is encouraged to ponder, among the current candidates which individual most approaches the Aristotelian model? And, do Americans seek or merit a leader with a Great-Soul?