Concept
Greatness
Overview
Greatness is a concept of a state of exceptional superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than all others. An example of an expression of the concept in a qualified sense would be "Hector is the definition of greatness" or "Napoleon was one of the greatest wartime leaders". In the unqualified sense it might be stated "George Washington achieved greatness within his own lifetime", thus implying that "greatness" is a definite and identifiable quality. Application of the terms "great" and "greatness" is dependent on the perspective and subjective judgements of those who apply them. Whereas in some cases the perceived greatness of a person, place or object might be agreed upon by many, this is not necessarily the case, and the perception of greatness may be both fiercely contested and highly idiosyncratic.
Historically, in Europe, rulers were sometimes given the attribute "the Great", as in Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great, Alfred the Great and Catherine the Great. Starting with the Roman consul and general Pompey, the Latin equivalent Magnus was also used, as in Pompeius Magnus, Albertus Magnus, and Carolus Magnus. The English language uses the Latin term magnum opus, (literally "great work") to describe certain works of art and literature.
Since the publication of Francis Galton's Hereditary Genius in 1869, and especially with the accelerated development of intelligence tests in the early 1900s, there has been a vast amount of social scientific research published relative to the question of greatness. Much of this research does not actually use the term great in describing itself, preferring terms such as eminence, genius, exceptional achievement, etc. Historically the major intellectual battles over this topic have focused around the questions of nature versus nurture or person versus context. Today the importance of both dimensions is accepted by all, but disagreements over the relative importance of each are still reflected in variations in research emphases.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Greatness is discussed.
The greatness of an estate, in bulk and territory, doth fall under measure; and the greatness of finances and revenue doth fall under computation. The population may appear by musters, and the number and greatness of cities and towns by cards and maps; but yet there is not anything amongst civil affairs more subject to error than the right valuation and true judgment concerning the power and forces of an estate. The…
Francis Bacon, Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients
a chapter is titled for it; names the idea; opens on it
True. But absolute greatness is only greater than absolute smallness, and smallness is only smaller than absolute greatness. Very true.
Plato, Parmenides
names the idea; states what it is
The great man is necessarily a sceptic (I do not mean to say by this that he must appear to be one), provided that greatness consists in this: to _will_ something great, together with the means thereto. Freedom from any kind of conviction is a factor in his _strength of will_. And thus it is in keeping with that "enlightened form of despotism" which every great passion exercises.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Will to Power
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
And as the idea of greatness cannot condescend ever to be or become small, in like manner the smallness in us cannot be or become great; nor can any other opposite which remains the same ever be or become its own opposite, but either passes away or perishes in the change.
Plato, Phaedo
names the idea; states what it is
Now there is a state bearing the same relation to Greatness of Soul as we said just now Liberality does to Munificence, with the difference that is of being about a small amount of the same thing: this state having reference to small honour, as Greatness of Soul to great honour; a man may, of course, grasp at honour either more than he should or less; now he that exceeds in his grasping at it is called ambitious, he…
Aristotle, The Nicomachean ethics of Aristotle
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Related ideas
- Isaac Newton
- Problem solving
- John Stuart Mill
- Albertus Magnus
- Alfred the Great
- Latin
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Great Depression
- Michelangelo
- Nobel Prize
- Worldview
- Person
- Saint Petersburg
- René Descartes
- James Clerk Maxwell
- Abraham Lincoln
- Benjamin Franklin
- Charlemagne
- Napoleon
- Albert Einstein
- Alexander the Great
- Charles Darwin
- Frederick the Great
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of history.