Hubris, Ancient and Modern: Concepts, Comparisons, Connections

Ancient Greek terminology continues to shape contemporary discourse; hubris is a case in point. Typically seen as the catastrophic yet common tendency to reach too high, only to fall, it remains a fixture in the contemporary discourse of business and politics. But hubris has also become a term of art for researchers in a number of academic disciplines; and it remains a hotly contested topic in Classics. This unique volume of essays explores the connections, continuities and differences between ancient hubris and its modern counterparts. Its distinguished multidisciplinary cast of experts in Classics, Business and Management Studies and Psychology explores what modern researchers can learn from the theorisation and deployment of hubris in ancient sources and how modern approaches to hubris can help us understand the ancient concept.

Table of Contents:
Part I. Hybris in Classical Greece: 1. Hybris in Ancient Greece: Syndrome, Antisocial Behaviour – or Both? Nick Fisher; 2. Lucky Fools: Luck, Risk and Merit in the Ancient Greek Concept of Hybris Douglas Cairns; 3. The Hybris of the Downtrodden: Honour and Social Control in Ancient Greek Society (and Today) Mirko Canevaro; 4. Hybris and Leadership: Identity Leadership and the Paradox of Alcibiades Kleanthis Mantzouranis; Part II. Hubris in Contemporary Psychology and Neuroscience: 5. Neurobiological and Neuropsychological Perspectives on the Hubris Syndrome Trevor W. Robbins; 6. Ordinary Hubris: A View from Social and Personality Psychology Constantine Sedikides and Aiden P. Gregg; 7. Power, Hubris and Self-Serving Behaviour Ana Guinote and Kyoo Hwa Kim; Part III. Hubris in Business, Leadership and Management: 8. Twenty-First Century Hubris: From Tragedy to Personality Disorder and Social Process Graham Robinson and Tim Wray; 9. Overreaching Leaders: Towards an Integrative Framework of CEO Hubris Mathew Hayward; 10. Hubris and Leadership: The Role of, and Warning Signs in, Storytelling and Myth-Making Donald Nordberg, Fabian Homberg and Hossam Zeitoun; 11. Hubristic Entrepreneurial Leadership: Targets, Interpretation and Reaction to Performance Pasquale Massimo Picone, Gabriella Levanti, and Arabella Mocciaro Li Destri; 12. Hubris in Business Organisations: Causes, Symptoms and Remedies Dennis Tourish.

About the Author :
DOUGLAS CAIRNS (MAE, FRSE, FBA) is Professor of Classics at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Aidôs: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature (1993). Among his most recent edited and co-edited volumes are A Cultural History of the Emotions in Antiquity (2019), Emotions through Time: From Antiquity to Byzantium (2022) and In the Mind, in the Body, in the World: Emotions in Early China and Ancient Greece (2024). In 2018 he was awarded the Anneliese Maier Research Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. NICK BOURAS is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, following a forty-year career in psychiatry and mental health. He has published widely, mostly on the determinants of behaviour for people with mental health problems as well as on personality changes. Several of his publications have been translated into other languages. EUGENE Sadler-Smith (FRSA, FCIPD, FAcSS) is Professor of Organizational Behaviour in the Surrey Business School at the University of Surrey. His research interests are hubris (in leadership) and intuition (in decision-making). He is the author of a number of books on these subjects, including Hubristic Leadership (2019), Intuition in Business (2023), and The Hubris Hazard, and How To Avoid It (2024).