I was meeting some friends in the city and wanted to read a book on the subway ride. I needed a small one that could fit in my pocket, so I looked at the Josef Pieper section of my antilibrary and picked up one I hadn't read yet: A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart.
This passage on magnanimity resonated:
Nothing shows the way to a correct understanding of humility so clearly as this: that humility and magnanimity not only are not mutually exclusive but also are near to one another and intimately connected; both together are in opposition to pride as well as to faintheartedness. What indeed does magnanimity mean? Magnanimity is the expansion of the spirit toward great things; one who expects great things of himself and makes himself worthy of it is magnanimous. The magnanimous person is to a certain extent “particular”: he does not allow himself to become concerned with everything that comes along, but rather only with the great things that are suitable for him. Magnanimity seeks above all great glory: “The magnanimous person strives toward that which is worth the highest glory.”
I have been sleeping on this virtue, mainly focusing on humility in the last few years,1 especially intellectual humility, because experiencing arrogance in others annoys me deeply. An arrogant person is someone who unjustifiably feels superior to others, and intellectual arrogance is when someone believes their truth claims are inherently superior. Having hosted intellectual events for years, I have encountered many intelligent people speaking as if they had discovered the universe’s secrets.
The challenge of focusing on humility, especially when publicly discussing its importance, is that it can lead to humility signaling—gaining a sense of specialness from appearing humble, regardless of whether one truly is. I love Pieper’s suggestion that humility and magnanimity go hand-in-hand; without the latter, you have a bastardized version of the former.
Being magnanimous is different from being arrogant because it lacks an innate sense of superiority. Nor is magnanimity the same as narcissism, which I understand as an addiction to a sense of specialness2 that frequently arises from an illusory appearance. Many people today fear being labeled as narcissistic, so they never allow their magnanimity to shine.
Arrogance and narcissism are not virtues. Feeling innately superior or being addicted to feeling special is deeply foolish. Magnanimity is different. It involves recognizing your innate goodness and sensing the greatness that will unfold from it. While humility keeps you aligned with reality, ensuring you are on good footing, magnanimity provides you with great directionality.
Magnanimity moves you, and reality with it, toward greater goodness, and what fool would not want that?
These two entries capture my thoughts on intellectual humility: “Midwittery to Humility” and “Overcoming Intellectual Servitude”
I unpack narcissism further in this entry: “Your Writing is Not Special: A Guide on How Not to Become a Narcissist”