Magnanimity
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Generosity (from ancient Greek μεγαλοψυχία megalopsychia ; Latin magnanimitas ) is the character trait of a personality to be able to forgive actions against oneself, quote: "groszmuth is nobleness with self-conquest". One of the classic counter-terms is " vengeance ", a modern counter-term is the property "resentful". Generosity is usually valued as a virtue . On the other hand, the opposite character trait, the “faint-heartedness” or “faint-heartedness”, is classified as a vice, as was said of the Carthaginians after their defeat by the Romans .
Details
Generosity has been an important virtue, especially of rulers, since ancient times . Already Aristotle discussed it in his Nicomachean Ethics as a desirable rulership virtue.
In Roman antiquity, Caesar's magnanimitas became proverbial. The “generosity” of some monarchs was historically honored in their epithets , for example Alfons the Magnanimous of Aragon, Philip the Magnanimous of Hesse or Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous of Saxony.
The amnesty of Muhammad against his longstanding enemies and persecutors under the leaders of Mecca after the city was taken also became famous .
The right to grace and the possibility of amnesty can be seen as institutionalizations of the ideal of generosity in constitutional law .
Current debates
Recently, as the philosopher Andreas Urs Sommer explained on Deutschlandfunk Kultur in April 2020 , there has been a struggle to revive generosity in philosophy, especially in response to current social challenges.
Artistic arrangements
In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La clemenza di Tito , which premiered in 1791, the generosity of the Roman Emperor Titus is the central theme. In his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), the generosity of Bassa Selim is the central motif.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer treated the virtue of generosity in his ballad The Gliding Purple .
See also
- The magnanimous , ruler with that surname
- Courage (virtue) #Etymology and ancient usage
- chivalry
- A magnanimous act
- Magnanimous Tomyris
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm , vol. 9, in: groszmuth , [1935], Munich 1984, col. 565
- ^ Pedro Barceló: Short Roman History . Special edition, 2nd, bibliographically updated edition. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3534250967 , p. 37f
- ↑ / Revival of a forgotten virtue? Will the virus bring back magnanimity? Andreas Urs Sommer in conversation with Korbinian Frenzel , Deutschlandfunk Kultur, April 16, 2020
- ↑ in: [anonymous] Twenty Ballads by a Swiss , 1864