Glossary – Hubris

The term hubris appears throughout The Life and Death of Democracy. Its vital link with the subject of democracy is traceable to the world of the early Greek democracies, to an age in which many observers thought that politics tempts people to grow greedy for power over others. Many early supporters of democracy were convinced that the gods and goddesses would heap destruction or ‘nemesis’ on kings, tyrants and great lords who chased after the world, blindly gambled with their power, sometimes risking everything for the sake of gain. Hubris (hybris) was their name for such gluttony. Ruin was said to be its penalty. Cupidity – the lust after money, fame, possessions or power – was stupidity.

The first orators, poets, playwrights and thinkers to reflect upon the subject of hubris did so with a boldness that still resonates today. For them, the ambitious striving for more than one’s fair share of power, such that it seriously assaults the honour of others – hubris- is a chronic feature of political life. There are times and places when mortals forget their own mortality. When that happens, they so succumb to high spirits and misuses of their energy that they extract pleasure from causing harm to others, not for the sake of revenge but essentially because the harm that is inflicted seems to prove the inferiority of the victim. Hubris- a word possibly imported from the east, from the Hittite huwap, said to mean ‘harm’, ‘maltreat’, or ‘outrage’ – is cause and effect of a superiority complex. Acting as if they were gods, or bent on competing with the gods, those hungry for power over others typically violate the dignity of their foes. It turns them into victims of the desire for superiority. It causes them shame. That sense of hurt in the presence of others fans the coals of individual and collective anger, which burst easily into the flames of revenge. And so the misadventures of unbridled power invariably bring bad outcomes to ruler and ruled alike.