Magnanimity and Modernity

This chapter chronicles the approaches to magnanimity taken by three key Enlightenment theorists, David Hume, Adam Smith, and John Witherspoon. United in their concern to defend the modern relevance of magnanimity, these thinkers differed in how they approached two central questions: the standard by which magnanimity is measured, and the need to ensure that goodness and greatness coincide. Hume’s relative understanding of greatness of mind created problems which Smith sought to redress by introducing the concept of ‘absolute perfection’ as the touchstone for judgements about magnanimity and moral judgements more broadly. Against the apparent tension between magnanimity and Christian values, John Witherspoon set out to recover the virtue on specifically Christian terms. Taking Smith’s solution one step further, he identified the standard of absolute perfection with God, with merit conceived as conformity with God’s will and the desire for worldly honour displaced by a desire for worthiness of God’s esteem.