Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Plutarch and Biography
- Chapter 2 Romanness and Greekness in Plutarch
- Chapter 3 Plutarch As Moral and Political Educator
- Chapter 4 In the Spirit of Plato
- Chapter 5 Plutarch As a Polemicist
- Chapter 6 Religion and Myth in Plutarch
- Chapter 7 Plutarch at the Symposium
- Chapter 8 Language, Style, and Rhetoric
- Chapter 9 Plutarch and Classical Greece
- Chapter 10 Great Men
- Chapter 11 Thinking “Private Life”
- Chapter 12 Wealth and Decadence in Plutarch’s Lives
- Chapter 13 Plutarch and the Barbarian “Other”
- Chapter 14 Plutarch and Animals
- Chapter 15 Plutarch in Byzantium
- Chapter 16 Plutarch in the Italian Renaissance
- Chapter 17 Plutarch and the Spanish Renaissance
- Chapter 18 Plutarch and Shakespeare
- Chapter 19 Plutarch in France
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Plutarch’s Moralia
- Index Locorum
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Chapter 10 - Great Men
Leadership in Plutarch’s Lives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Plutarch and Biography
- Chapter 2 Romanness and Greekness in Plutarch
- Chapter 3 Plutarch As Moral and Political Educator
- Chapter 4 In the Spirit of Plato
- Chapter 5 Plutarch As a Polemicist
- Chapter 6 Religion and Myth in Plutarch
- Chapter 7 Plutarch at the Symposium
- Chapter 8 Language, Style, and Rhetoric
- Chapter 9 Plutarch and Classical Greece
- Chapter 10 Great Men
- Chapter 11 Thinking “Private Life”
- Chapter 12 Wealth and Decadence in Plutarch’s Lives
- Chapter 13 Plutarch and the Barbarian “Other”
- Chapter 14 Plutarch and Animals
- Chapter 15 Plutarch in Byzantium
- Chapter 16 Plutarch in the Italian Renaissance
- Chapter 17 Plutarch and the Spanish Renaissance
- Chapter 18 Plutarch and Shakespeare
- Chapter 19 Plutarch in France
- Bibliography
- Appendix: Plutarch’s Moralia
- Index Locorum
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Summary
This chapter explores Plutarch’s presentation of greatness as it equates with leadership ability and outcomes. He expressly values civic participation and leadership that aims to secure and promote the welfare of the community. Subsequent to the presentation of some basic information concerning his theories of education, especially ethical education, attention is then focused on the innate components of greatness and the appropriate means to develop this inborn talent in training individuals to wield power in an effective and responsible fashion. A comparative analysis is then undertaken to set forth the similarities and differences between the psychological/behavioral makeup of Plutarch’s ideal leader and recent influential work in leadership theory by Daniel Goleman, James MacGregor Burns, and Bernard M. Bass. The significant degree of correspondence elucidated leads to a discussion of the literary techniques Plutarch employs to place in sharper relief the salient aspects of great leadership (and its opposite), including his developed use of synkrisis and the Socratic paradigm, as well as the representation of performative acts of leadership.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch , pp. 197 - 225Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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