Megalopsychos

Alternative forms

• megalopsuchos, megalopsukhos, megalopsychus, megalopsykhos

Origin

From the Ancient Greek μεγᾰλόψῡχος ("great-souled man”, “magnanimous one"), from μεγᾰς ("great") + ψῡχή ("mind”, “spirit”, “soul").

Full definition of megalopsychos

Noun

1. (in Aristotelian philosophy) Aristotle’s “great-souled man”: an aristocratic paragon who embodies Cardinal virtues to an exceptional degree (a figure described chiefly in Aristotle’s and Nicomachean Ethics).
• 1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values” in Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, New York: Doubleday (publisher), ISBN 0385033443, page 164:Nietzsche could not, for instance, accuse Aristotle of preaching a morality of pity, nor of extolling humility. On the contrary Aristotle’s description of the megalopsychos who possesses the virtue of greatness of soul and “deserves and claims great things” (Nicomachean Ethics 1123 a 15) has much in common with Nietzsche’s picture of the “higher” type of man.

Related terms

• megalopsychy

Coordinate terms

• (figure in Aristotelian philosophy) knight of faith equivalent in Kierkegaardian philosophy, übermensch equivalent in Nietzschean philosophy