Most religious traditions don’t look kindly upon pride. For example, in the Jewish commentary the Talmud, we find, “A proud man is not loved even in his own house.” Christianity's Book of Proverbs states that “Pride goes before the fall.” And Buddhism views pride as a source of suffering.

Yet, pride is more than an antisocial value to be shunned. As noted by professors Isabella Poggi and Francesca D’ Errico, pride is a social emotion that exists on a spectrum, expressed at one end as “arrogance” and at the other as a signal of a sense of dignity. I take this to be the difference between the anti-political-correctness Proud Boys and the celebratory LBGTQ+ Pride Month.

Pride can be divided into two parts: authentic and hubristic emotions. The positive, authentic aspect of pride can be defined as taking proper satisfaction in our accomplishments. The negative, hubristic form occurs in the absence of an eliciting event (no accomplishment) and is associated with aggression and unsatisfying relationships.

Religions rightly warn against hubristic pride, which is overtly antisocial and violent. Fascism, for example, is built upon pride in national identity that virulently opposes foreign influences; political opponents and “internal foreigners” are labeled as traitors.

Even authentic pride can be arrogant and smug. Authentic pride is a problem when too much credit is taken for our achievements. Thinking too highly of one’s achievements can lead to feelings of superiority. In reality, achievement, no matter how fairly gained, is a mix of innate ability, external circumstances, effort, and luck. We have no control over whether the family into which we are born is loving or indifferent, whether we have connections that lead the way to success, whether we avoid accidents and illnesses, whether the choices we make are the right ones, or whether the times in which we live value the talents we possess.

Aristotle viewed proper pride, much like other social values, as a mean between two extremes: Too little is failing to acknowledge what has been achieved—a form of false humility—and too much is vanity. Most importantly, pride must be rooted in the goodness of character. Pride, according to Aristotle, is “a sort of crown of the virtues” because it rightly shows what it means to be a good person. In Nichomachean Ethics, he writes, “It is the mark of the proud man to ask for nothing or scarcely anything, but to give help readily, and to be dignified towards people who enjoy a high position but unassuming towards those of the middle class; . . . it is as vulgar as a display of strength against the weak.”

Pride is an important value when it is tied to those actions that lead to a virtuous life, such as generosity and kindness, and it is destructive when it is arrogant and self-centered.