Virtues of Greatness in the Arabic Tradition

Sophia Vasalou investigates how thinkers in the Islamic world approached an important family of virtues, the ‘virtues of greatness’. One of these was the virtue of magnanimity, which had a prominent place in ancient philosophical ethics, and was transmitted to the Islamic world through translations of Greek texts. The other was ‘greatness of spirit’, a virtue with more indigenous roots in the Arabic tradition. Together these virtues tell an intriguing story not only about the content of the ideals of character developed in the Islamic world but also about the genealogy of these ideals, revealing the kaleidoscopic range of influences that shaped them. Virtues of Greatness in the Arabic Tradition concludes by exploring the contemporary relevance of the Arabic ideal of greatness of spirit.