Pride or arrogance is the only one of the seven deadly sins that has an ethical aspect. It is certainly good to feel pride for your country, your community, yourself. However, when one reaches a point of excess, as demonstrated in "Arrogance" by Michael Eric Dyson, these virtues become deadly sins.
Starting with Augustine and Aquinas and reaching MacIntyre and Hauerwas, Niebuhr and Martin Luther King, Dyson offers a multifaceted view of "virtuous evil." He delves into the philosophical and theological roots of pride, carefully examining its transformation in Western culture. He examines how black pride protects blacks from humiliation and exclusion that white pride can cause, which may not be visible or spoken of, but remains very powerful. He offers an insightful look at the teachers and books that shaped his personal pride and work. He examines some less pleasant aspects of national pride.
Whether as hubris, audacity, or arrogance - the uncritical assumption that my way of life determines how others should live - pride has many destructive faces. In this engaging and provocative essay, Michael Eric Dyson, one of America's most distinguished intellectuals, illuminates this multifaceted human emotion, an emotion that can be a vital virtue and a deadly sin at the same time.