NIETZSCHE OR ARISTOTLE

The aim of this paper is to describe and compare the mysterious and controversial virtue of 'megalopsychia' (literally 'greatness of soul'), which Aristotle discusses in Book 4 of the 'Nicomachean Ethics', with Nietzsche's well-known, though sometimes ill-reputed, 'ethical' conception of 'Übermensch'. The author tries to bring out their similarities and show that they both can be seen as an alternative to the 'classical' notion of virtue - one much closer to our views on both external reality and human nature. His point of reference is Alaisdair MacIntyre's 'After Virtue', where the Aristotelian 'social' tradition of virtue is sharply opposed to Nietzsche's 'moral solipsism'.