Hybris and Sciences

A central claim of our ERC project is that ancient Greek ‘honour’ (timê) is a reflex of a complex of motivations and values that is still very much with us. A corollary of that claim is that ancient Greek concepts can still be used to make sense of modern phenomena. One example is that of hybris (or hubris).

This is the claim of the Daedalus Trust (http://www.daedalustrust.com), founded by Lord (David) Owen and others, to disseminate awareness of what they call ‘the hubris syndrome’ in modern society (especially among politicians).

One of the Trust’s founders, Professor Nick Bouras (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London), has recently published this article on the prevalence of hybris (and the need for humility) among doctors and scientists.

Douglas Cairns

 

Featured image:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

search previous next tag category expand menu location phone mail time cart zoom edit close