ETHICS EXPERT AL GINI


Pride: the enemy of ethics?


T LEWIS KOSTINER Natalie, holding a photograph of her father, Reynol Ruiz, Redwood City, California. These exhibits are on display until June 2.


GRAVEN IMAGES Marc Chagall’s Bible Illustrations


In 1931, Russian Jewish artist Marc Chagall was commissioned to illustrate the Hebrew Bible, sparking the artist to travel to Palestine. He is quoted as saying his experience was the inspira- tion of a lifetime. Chagall’s art is distinctive and lyrical with floating figures, fantastic beings, dis- proportion, and disjointed spaces and registers that are both delightful and puzzling. Known best for his paintings, he was also a highly skilled and accomplished printmaker.


THE TRUTH IS IN THE TELLING Tradition and Innovation in Passover Haggadot


The Truth is in the Telling highlights selections from the Haggadot collection of Chicagoan Stephen P. Durchslag. The Haggadah is the book that tells the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. The story is read aloud by Jews through- out the world at the traditional ritual meal of the Seder.


LEWIS KOSTINER Choosing Fatherhood— A Photographic Journey


In the United States, the absence of fathers from their children’s lives is a social problem with many causes and implications. Chicago photog- rapher Lewis Kostiner, in his project Choosing Fatherhood: America’s Second Chance, explores this problem by creating portraits of fathers who are involved in their children’s lives.


CLOSED MONDAYS • 11 A.M.–8 P.M. TUESDAYS • 11 A.M.–6 P.M. WEDNESDAYS–SUNDAYS 820 NORTH MICHIGAN AVENUE, CHICAGO


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here is no one single explanation or reason for unethical behavior. But, in my mi nd, there is a leading candidate


for this rather dubious distinction. It’s what modern psychologists refer to as delusional narcissism, and what the medieval Pope Gregory the Great called “the queen of the seven deadly sins” – pride. Philosopher Baruch Spinoza called pride


a “species of madness,” because it leads us to think that we can accomplish all things. The fundamental psychology of pride is that it produces a distorted view of self and the world. Pride is about self-absorption, exces- sive self-esteem, inordinate self-love, and egregious self-evaluation. The Oxford English Dictionary defines pride as “an unreasonable conceit of superiority … and overween- ing opinion of one’s qualities, talents, and abilities.” In effect, what pride does is to strip the


ability of a person to be objective, to make sound judgments, to be critical. Pride is an excuse for excess, a roadblock to moderation, and a stairway to arrogance. Pride, says poet and Trappist monk Thomas Menton, robs us of our humility and our basic concern for ob- jectivity, because we are constantly focused on self. For Thomas Aquinas, pride is more than narcissism; it is the “distorted desire to be exalted.” This desire, suggests Aquinas, leads to an exaggeration of our ability and rights and contempt for the ability and rights of others. For Aquinas, pride is the beginning of every sin because pride leads to complete


“selfishness” and to the total abandonment of the concept of “selflessness.” Pride diminishes the possibility of ethical


conduct in regard to others, because pride re- duces one’s view of the world to very narrow priorites: me, myself, and I.


Al Gini is a professor of business ethics in the Quinlan School of Business.


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