The Forgotten Virtue of Magnanimity

One of the greatest shortcomings of conventional self-help and psychotherapy is that they are inherently problem-oriented. People seek therapy because they feel something is going wrong for them. That applies to many problems but in this article I’m going to focus exclusively on anger. People come to therapy because they want to control their anger. At first, though, they’re often very unclear about what the alternative to anger would look like. There are reasons to believe that adopting a more positive values-oriented outlook can actually help you to cope better with emotions such as anger. By that I mean a perspective that focuses on the value of specific character traits, of the sort that ancient philosophers, such as the Stoics, referred to as the virtues.

Photo by Sylvain Mauroux on Unsplash

Several of the classical virtues are relevant to the problem of controlling your temper, such as wisdom, fairness, kindness, courage and, perhaps most obviously, temperance. However, in this article, I’m going to discuss a less well-known virtue. In a sense, it’s the forgotten virtue, because we no longer have a word for it in English. It was, however, once a very familiar and extremely important concept to ancient Greeks and Romans. In Greek, it’s called megalopsychia and in Latin magnanimitas, from which we derive the English word magnanimity. This is how we currently define it:

magnanimity. The quality of being magnanimous: loftiness of spirit enabling one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and pettiness, and to display a noble generosity. — The Merriam-Webster dictionary

This is how megalopsychia is defined in an ancient dictionary of philosophical terms.

megalopsychia. Nobility in dealing with events; magnificence of soul, together with reason. — The Definitions, Pseudo-Plato

You might think those are pretty similar definitions. So what’s missing? As is often the case, the Greeks and Romans were more aware of the most literal meaning of the word, in addition to the denotation given by this dictionary definition. Megalopsychia and magnanimitas, as you might be able to infer, both meant having a big psyche or animus — a great mind or soul.

Ancient philosophers were very aware of this literal meaning, and that is precisely how they used the word. The Stoics, for instance, actually believed that the psyche can become bigger or smaller, lighter or heavier. For example, we’re told the early Greek Stoics defined emotional suffering as “an irrational contraction of the psyche”, which takes various forms (Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.111). The Stoic Sage, incidentally, never experiences emotional suffering, we’re told, because his mind does not contract (Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.118).

That might sound overly metaphysical today. However, we do know that attention can become broad or narrow, flexible or rigid, which perhaps comes close to what the Stoics intuitively recognized and expressed in their own way. When someone gets angry their attention tends to narrow and become rigidly fixed on the perceived threat or problem. When someone is unperturbed by insults, and so on, we may therefore expect the opposite. Their attention remains broad and flexible, and the problem, though not avoided by them, seems to occupy only a small corner of their mind.

In modern-day English, we no longer use the word “magnanimity” with its original literal meaning in mind. It no longer means having a big mind or soul. And, in any case, it’s no longer a word that’s commonly used. There are, however, still fragmentary traces of this concept found in various idiomatic expressions in use today. People sometimes say that, rather than becoming angry at a perceived offence, we should be “bigger than that”. They talk about “being the bigger man”, by walking away from an argument, or responding generously. “It takes a big person”, they say, to have a generous spirit in the face of provocation. We might also include phrases such as “You should be above this” or “It’s beneath you to respond to something like that”.

We perhaps speak more literally today, as is often the case, when we use the antonym, the opposite of magnanimity, and refer to someone who is easily provoked as being petty or small-minded. We may even say “he’s a vicious little man”, referring pointedly, not to someone’s stature, but his character.

I believe that we could benefit from reclaiming the original meaning of magnanimity, by linking it to phrases such as these. To be magnanimous means to be the bigger man, and to be above all petty-mindedness. Why should we care? Isn’t this just semantics? I think it’s psychologically quite important. By restoring this forgotten virtue, and labelling it, we can invoke it in the face of anger. The shift to a values-orientation is inherently antagonistic to the psychology of anger. When we become angry we tend dramatically to shift our focus outward onto the other person. We forget about our own thoughts and actions in the present moment and become mindless rather than mindful, preoccupied with what we want to happen next, such as punishing the target of our anger.

When we focus on virtues, we shift our attention back on to our own character and actions. We recover our mindfulness and self-awareness. We compensate for the impairment of our ability to weigh up the long-term cost of our actions against the perceived benefits of our anger by falling back on our principles for guidance. Ask yourself, for instance, in the heat of the moment: “Will I regret this later when I’m no longer angry?” Ask yourself, “Is getting angry in accord with my core values? Is this the sort of person that I want to be in life?” Ask yourself, “What sort of person am I right now: magnanimous or the opposite? Am I ‘bigger than this’, or am I being petty and small-minded?”

You need a quick and simple solution to anger in the heat of the moment, when you’re not thinking straight, and under pressure. Appealing to your values is quicker and easier, it uses less mental bandwidth (“cognitive load”) than trying to carry out a detailed cost-benefit analysis of your actions. Once you’ve regained your self-awareness, ask yourself, “What would I do if acting in accord with my true values? Instead of yelling or acting aggressively, what would be the magnanimous response right now?” What would the bigger person say or do right now?

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Stoic Magnanimity

Here is a selection of passages from different ancient philosophers, which help to shed some light on the importance they placed on magnanimity. In earlier authors, magnanimity is associated, as today, with generosity. For the Stoics, however, and some other philosophers, such as Cicero, the emphasis shifts and becomes more associated with a form of emotional resilience.

For example, we’re told that the early Greek Stoics classed magnanimity as one of the most important virtue because is specifically entails “rising above” external events.

Magnanimity they define as the knowledge or habit that makes one superior to [literally “above”] whatever happens, whether good or evil. — Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.93

We’re therefore told that the Stoic philosopher Hecato of Rhodes, following Zeno and Chrysippus, the founders of Stoicism, taught that magnanimity is an integral part of all virtue.

“For if magnanimity by itself,” he says, “can make us superior to everything, though it is only one part of virtue, then virtue too is sufficient for happiness [eudaimonia], in that it looks down on all things that seem troublesome.” — Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.128

In other words, true magnanimity allows us to look down upon all of our troubles. This quality makes virtue self-sufficient, they reason, because, by definition, magnanimity is not dependent upon anything external. The “great souled” individual neither needs praise nor fears criticism, he is completely free from attachment to externals. He realizes that everything he needs to flourish and achieve eudaimonia is within him.

Photo by Art of Hoping on UnsplashMusonius Rufus on Magnanimity

I’m going to quote several passages from the Stoic teacher, Musonius Rufus’ lecture on why a philosopher will not sue someone for assault. Musonius focuses on the role magnanimity plays in the Stoic’s response to physical or verbal attacks.

[…] a sensible person would not resort to lawsuits or indictments since he would not think that he had been insulted. Indeed, it is petty to be vexed or put out about such things. He will calmly and quietly bear what has happened, since this is appropriate behavior for a person who wants to be magnanimous. — Musonius Rufus, 10.3

This is a clear example of how magnanimity makes “forgiveness” seem irrelevant to Stoics. The Stoic Sage, or wise person, “would not think that he had been insulted”, in the first place. He is, ideally, so much “bigger than that”, or magnanimous, that he does not consider himself to have significantly injured, and there is therefore nothing to forgive, or any reason to sue his assailant for compensation.

Musonius immediately follows this by citing the famous legend according to which Socrates was in the audience for a performance of Aristophanes’ comedy The Clouds, which mercilessly lampoons the philosopher, and even contributed to his eventual trial and execution.

Socrates obviously refused to be upset when he was publicly ridiculed by Aristophanes; indeed, when Socrates met Aristophanes, he asked if Aristophanes would like to make other such use of him. It is unlikely that this man would have become angry if he had been the target of some minor slight, since he was not upset when he was ridiculed in the theater! — Musonius Rufus, 10.4

The story goes that when Socrates heard some foreigners asking who it was that was being mocked on the stage, he calmly rose from his feet to publicly acknowledge that he was the one being satirized, before sitting back down and enjoying the rest of the play. Here, magnanimity is the quality specifically associated with an ability to shrug off insults without becoming angry.

In the next passage, Musonius gives the example of the Athenian statesman, Phocion the Good.

Phocion the Good, when his wife was insulted by someone, didn’t even consider bringing charges against the insulter. In fact, when that person came to him in fear and asked Phocion to forgive him, saying that he did not know that it was his wife whom he offended, Phocion replied: “My wife has suffered nothing because of you, but perhaps some other woman has. So you don’t need to apologize to me.” — Musonius Rufus, 10.4

Again, this provides a very clear example of how, for the Stoics, neither an apology nor forgiveness is necessary, or meaningful, because the wise man would never take serious offence in the first place. In the absence of any real injury, what sense would it make to expect an apology or offer to forgive anything?

And I could name many other men who were targets of abuse, some verbally attacked and others injured by physical attacks. They appear neither to have defended themselves against their attackers nor to have sought revenge. — Musonius Rufus, 10.4

The magnanimous person has no interest in revenge because there is no real injury to pay back. Given that the Stoics define anger as the desire for revenge, it follows that magnanimity eliminates anger.

Seneca on Magnanimity

Next, I’ll quote several passages from Seneca’s On Anger, which explicitly portray magnanimity as the main virtue that opposes the vice of anger. In the opening chapter, Seneca argues that although some people believe that anger can make them great-souled, it actually does the opposite. He goes on to define magnanimity as a form of emotional resilience, incompatible with anger.

I take greatness of mind to mean that it is unshaken, sound throughout, firm and uniform to its very foundation; such as cannot exist in evil dispositions. — Seneca, On Anger, 1.20

In a later chapter, Seneca returns to the topic of magnanimity in relation to anger.

There is no greater proof of magnanimity than that nothing which befalls you should be able to move you to anger. The higher region of the universe, being more excellently ordered and near to the stars, is never gathered into clouds, driven about by storms, or whirled round by cyclones: it is free from all disturbance: the lightnings flash in the region below it. In like manner a lofty mind, always placid and dwelling in a serene atmosphere, restraining within itself all the impulses from which anger springs, is modest, commands respect, and remains calm and collected: none of which qualities will you find in an angry man… — Seneca, On Anger, 3.6

Here, freedom from anger seems to be the very essence of magnanimity. Moreover, the mind of the truly magnanimous man is compared to the celestial realm, the heavens, which lie far above the turmoil of the earth’s weather.

In another passage, again, magnanimity is portrayed as the opposite of anger.

It cannot be doubted that he who regards his tormentor with contempt raises himself above the common herd and looks down upon them from a loftier position: it is the property of true magnanimity not to feel the blows which it may receive. So does a huge wild beast turn slowly and gaze at yelping curs: so does the wave dash in vain against a great cliff. The man who is not angry remains unshaken by injury: he who is angry has been moved by it. He, however, whom I have described as being placed too high for any mischief to reach him, holds as it were the highest good in his arms: he can reply, not only to any man, but to fortune herself: “Do what you will, you are too feeble to disturb my serenity: this is forbidden by reason, to whom I have entrusted the guidance of my life: to become angry would do me more harm than your violence can do me. ‘More harm?’ say you. Yes, certainly: I know how much injury you have done me, but I cannot tell to what excesses anger might not carry me.” — Seneca, On Anger, 3.25

The great-souled man is like an animal so huge, that he can look down upon the hostility of other creatures as if it were simply nothing to him. Incidentally, you may recognize the metaphor of the immovable cliff against which the waves harmlessly crash, which is best-known from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

In yet another passage, magnanimity is portrayed as the attitude of someone who views the concerns that people tend to squabble over as being ultimately quite childish and trivial.

“In what way,” say you, “do you bid us look at those things by which we think ourselves injured, that we may see how paltry, pitiful, and childish they are?” Of all things I would charge you to take to yourself a magnanimous spirit, and behold how low and sordid all these matters are about which we squabble and run to and fro till we are out of breath; to anyone who entertains any lofty and magnificent ideas, they are not worthy of a thought. — Seneca, On Anger, 3.32

As I’ve quoted so much from Seneca’s On Anger, I may as well include the closing words of the book, which concludes with one more reference to magnanimity.

Let us keep our tempers in spite of losses, wrongs, abuse or sarcasm, and let us endure with magnanimity our short-lived troubles: while we are considering what is due to ourselves, as the saying is, and worrying ourselves, death will be upon us. — Seneca, On Anger, 3.43

In another of his writings, Seneca names magnanimity the “noblest of all the virtues”.

Besides this, as most insults proceed from those who are haughty and arrogant and bear their prosperity ill, he has something wherewith to repel this haughty passion, namely, that noblest of all the virtues, magnanimity, which passes over everything of that kind as like unreal apparitions in dreams and visions of the night, which have nothing in them substantial or true. — On the Firmness of the Wise Person, 11

In On Clemency, Seneca says that although some virtues are more relevant to some men than to others, magnanimity is important for everyone, because it provides us with emotional resilience.

Magnanimity befits all mortal men, even the humblest of all; for what can be greater or braver than to resist ill fortune? — Seneca, On Clemency, 5

Conclusion

My advice is as follows. When you are not angry, ask yourself what it means to you personally to have magnanimity or to be “bigger than” insults, and capable of rising above both good and bad fortune. If you are interested in ancient philosophy, reread the passages above, and consider their meaning very deeply. Contemplate exemplars of magnanimity, perhaps including the famous Stoic philosophers, and other historical or even fictional characters. Look for evidence of this virtue in other people, whom you have known personally. Who exemplifies this virtue for you?

Next, imagine yourself behaving with magnanimity in response to different situations. First, relive memories of events where you became irritated or angry, and imagine yourself responding with magnanimity instead. Second, imagine events in the near future, which might provoke your anger, and rehearse acting with magnanimity instead. Focus on the intrinsic value that you place upon this virtue — imagine that’s the sort of person that you want to be in life.

Finally, in real situations, call upon this virtue and consult it for guidance. If possible, do so before, during, and after problems. Look out for challenging or “high-risk” situations, where your anger may be provoked, and prepare in advance, just beforehand, by saying to yourself, three or four times, “I’m committed to doing this with magnanimity” or “being the bigger person.” In the situation, as soon as you spot the early-warning signs of anger, nip it in the bud, if possible, by asking yourself “How does this anger accord with the value I place on magnanimity?” Once you’ve regained some composure, ask yourself “What would I do if I was acting with magnanimity?”, or a similar sort of question, to guide your actions. Later, when everything is over, and you’re calm and relaxed, review what happened, and ask yourself, “How much magnanimity did I exhibit in that situation? What would I have done differently, if acting with greater magnanimity?” Or, if you prefer, substitute another word or phrase, or just ask yourself how your actions align with your core values in general.

Even if you don’t do all of those things, I hope the general outline gives you some inspiration. You can consult your values in many different ways in relation to challenging situations. Keeping them at the forefront of your mind can be very helpful. It often helps to be more specific, though, about the virtue that you’re working on so I hope that this discussion of the “forgotten virtue” of magnanimity gives you some inspiration in that regard. You’ll find many other references to this concept in the Stoic literature, including, of course, the contemplative practice known today as the View from Above. Try to make it more personal, though, by reflecting on what these ideas mean to you, and how they might be relevant to your character, and the challenges you face in your own life.

Please comment below with your thoughts on how this concept might be applied to different situations and any questions that you might have about how it relates to ancient philosophy or modern psychology.

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