Is ambition good or bad? Who is an ambitious person and what does ambition mean? What does the word ambitious person mean?

, knowledge or power. Unlike determination, ambition is aimed at a person's personal rather than altruistic goals. Unlike greed, ambition is only indirectly aimed at achieving material gain. Ambition is the subject of ethics, psychology, pedagogy, political science and some other humanities and scientific areas.

Perception of ambition

In Christianity

According to Kant

Psychological and pedagogical perspective

In psychology and pedagogy, the concept of ambition corresponds to the term motivation. In educational concepts whose goal is a strong focus on results, in addition to the development of internal motivation and skills in academic, artistic or physical training, it is also advisable to apply and teach competencies such as self-efficacy expectations, endurance and hard work.

Ambition from a scientific-political perspective

Political scientist Joseph A. Schlesinger identified three types of ambition in politics in 1966:

• Under progressive ambition he understood the desire of a politician for a higher position than he currently occupies.
• Static ambition he called the desire of a politician to hold the position he currently holds for as long as possible.
• Discrete ambition- this is the desire of a politician to achieve a specific political goal or position, without expecting to obtain it many times.

Ambition in literature and film

Ambition is a central theme of many literary works. Examples:

• William Shakespeare : Macbeth(England, 1606)
• Stendhal: Red and black(France, 1830)
• Guy de Maupassant: Dear friend(France, 1885)
• Henrik Ibsen: Hedda Gabler(Norway, 1890)
• Klaus Mann: Mephisto(Germany, 1956)

Also in many feature films, the theme of ambition is at the center of attention. Examples:

• Face(USA, 1933)
• Citizen Kane(USA, 1941)
• All the king's men(USA, 1949)
• The most beautiful(Italy, 1951)
• All about Eve(USA, 1951)
• Becket(UK, 1963)
• Black Swan(USA, 2010)
• Obsession(USA, 2014)

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Literature

• Josef H. Reichholf: Why we want victories. Athletic ambition as a driving force in human evolution. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 2009, .

Notes

Excerpt describing Ambition

The princess was lying in a chair, M lle Burien was rubbing her temples. Princess Marya, supporting her daughter-in-law, with tear-stained beautiful eyes, still looked at the door through which Prince Andrei came out, and baptized him. From the office one could hear, like gunshots, the often repeated angry sounds of an old man blowing his nose. As soon as Prince Andrei left, the office door quickly opened and the stern figure of an old man in a white robe looked out.
- Left? Well, good! - he said, looking angrily at the emotionless little princess, shook his head reproachfully and slammed the door.

In October 1805, Russian troops occupied the villages and towns of the Archduchy of Austria, and more new regiments came from Russia and, burdening the residents with billeting, were stationed at the Braunau fortress. The main apartment of Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov was in Braunau.
On October 11, 1805, one of the infantry regiments that had just arrived at Braunau, awaiting inspection by the commander-in-chief, stood half a mile from the city. Despite the non-Russian terrain and situation (orchards, stone fences, tiled roofs, mountains visible in the distance), despite the non-Russian people looking at the soldiers with curiosity, the regiment had exactly the same appearance as any Russian regiment had when preparing for a review somewhere in the middle of Russia.
In the evening, on the last march, an order was received that the commander-in-chief would inspect the regiment on the march. Although the words of the order seemed unclear to the regimental commander, and the question arose how to understand the words of the order: in marching uniform or not? in the council of battalion commanders it was decided to present the regiment in full dress uniform on the grounds that it is always better to bow than not to bow. And the soldiers, after a thirty-mile march, did not sleep a wink, they repaired and cleaned themselves all night; adjutants and company commanders counted and expelled; and by morning the regiment, instead of the sprawling, disorderly crowd that it had been the day before during the last march, represented an orderly mass of 2,000 people, each of whom knew his place, his job, and of whom, on each of them, every button and strap was in its place and sparkled with cleanliness . Not only was the outer part in good order, but if the commander-in-chief had wanted to look under the uniforms, he would have seen an equally clean shirt on each one and in each knapsack he would have found the legal number of things, “stuff and soap,” as the soldiers say. There was only one circumstance about which no one could be calm. It was shoes. More than half the people's boots were broken. But this deficiency was not due to the fault of the regimental commander, since, despite repeated demands, the goods were not released to him from the Austrian department, and the regiment traveled a thousand miles.
The regimental commander was an elderly, sanguine general with graying eyebrows and sideburns, thick-set and wider from chest to back than from one shoulder to the other. He was wearing a new, brand new uniform with wrinkled folds and thick golden epaulettes, which seemed to lift his fat shoulders upward rather than downwards. The regimental commander had the appearance of a man happily performing one of the most solemn affairs of life. He walked in front of the front and, as he walked, trembled at every step, slightly arching his back. It was clear that the regimental commander was admiring his regiment, happy with it, that all his mental strength was occupied only with the regiment; but, despite the fact that his trembling gait seemed to say that, in addition to military interests, the interests of social life and the female sex occupied a significant place in his soul.
“Well, Father Mikhailo Mitrich,” he turned to one battalion commander (the battalion commander leaned forward smiling; it was clear that they were happy), “it was a lot of trouble this night.” However, it seems that nothing is wrong, the regiment is not bad... Eh?
The battalion commander understood the funny irony and laughed.
- And in Tsaritsyn Meadow they wouldn’t have driven you away from the field.
- What? - said the commander.
At this time, along the road from the city, along which the makhalnye were placed, two horsemen appeared. These were the adjutant and the Cossack riding behind.
The adjutant was sent from the main headquarters to confirm to the regimental commander what was said unclearly in yesterday's order, namely, that the commander-in-chief wanted to see the regiment exactly in the position in which it was marching - in overcoats, in covers and without any preparations.
A member of the Gofkriegsrat from Vienna arrived to Kutuzov the day before, with proposals and demands to join the army of Archduke Ferdinand and Mack as soon as possible, and Kutuzov, not considering this connection beneficial, among other evidence in favor of his opinion, intended to show the Austrian general that sad situation , in which troops came from Russia. For this purpose, he wanted to go out to meet the regiment, so the worse the situation of the regiment, the more pleasant it would be for the commander-in-chief. Although the adjutant did not know these details, he conveyed to the regimental commander the commander-in-chief’s indispensable requirement that the people wear overcoats and covers, and that otherwise the commander-in-chief would be dissatisfied. Having heard these words, the regimental commander lowered his head, silently raised his shoulders and spread his hands with a sanguine gesture.

IN modern world It is not easy for a person who is not ambitious. What does ambition mean in the modern world? Can this concept be considered negative? In the end, we ourselves choose the paths we will follow. Someone's conscience hurts their eyes to walk past a beggar, and someone without a twinge of conscience snatches a tin can of coins from him. In this article we will look at how it is expressed.

Definition

This term expresses a character property that manifests itself as clearly expressed personal goals, motives and methods of achieving fame, primacy, honorable position and recognition in any field of activity. The word “ambition” sounds rather pompous, but if you look at its components, you can find a fusion of two simple words: honor and love. Such a phrase has a positive connotation only when an individual, striving to earn “honor,” performs good deeds without infringing on the rights and freedoms of other people, and climbs the career ladder with dignity and honor.

But the reality is that often the meaning of the word “ambition” is not so noble - it means a person who craves honor at any cost, such a person, putting his own person above others, goes towards his goal, sacrificing those around him. This quality in psychology is an indicator of selfish behavior. And as many great psychologists have said, selfishness is “the sin of the human soul.”

What is ambition: manifestations and properties

Ambition determines a person’s specific actions in achieving a career and individual success. A person striving to realize ambitious goals strives with all his might to do his job better than others, constantly improves, develops willpower and potential.

An intelligent and decent person is distinguished by ambition, which is justified by his knowledge, truthfulness, and nobility. The importance of ambition in the life of such a person does not prevail over his humanity. He stands out from the rest with his clear head and kind heart.

Differences between vanity and ambition

One would think that vanity could be called a synonym for ambition. However, vanity is focused more on a cheap effect; this is suitable for ephemeral people, buffoons. In comparison with this character trait, ambition is achieved through a deeply thought-out project. This is a serious, focused and long-term process of achieving success, at the top of which the brilliance of the merits of her “climber” will be clearly and clearly reflected.

True ambition can only be satisfied by well-deserved, and not contrived, fame. Such ambitious man evokes sincere respect.

Where do the roots come from?

For those who are interested in what ambition is and where it comes from - this personal quality appears as a result of a person’s internal need to assert himself and prove to the whole world his value and significance, to receive tangible evidence of his merits.

Ambition is more of a masculine quality. It should be on par with such masculine qualities as determination, responsibility and self-confidence. Try to find a woman who would be satisfied with her state of affairs, because women are desire-producing units. A man, as an ambitious person, will accumulate women’s desires in his mind and subconsciously strive for more in order to provide himself and his companion with a better standard of living. By the way, women easily recognize vanity, which does not make a person pleasant at all, but only repels him.

Only those who see their success and recognition of merit ahead are ready to work. Anyone who is convinced of their own importance gains self-respect and a healthy sense of self-esteem. Respect does not need words; when a person is respected, he feels it, just as those around him, seeing the attitude of others towards him, are imbued with a feeling of respect for him.

Ambition, built into the psychological organization of a person, acts as an ethical quality of the individual and is revealed in the interaction of a person with society.

Beware: ambition!

When ambition is inherent in a good person, it is constructive, healthy and positive for others.

If it becomes a property bad person, then, being at the disposal of a destructive personality, it can have an unpleasant effect on people’s lives, especially when such a person gains power.

It makes sense for society to cultivate healthy professional and career ambition in people. It is healthy ambition that motivates productive social activity. Therefore, it is considered an extremely positive personality trait. By developing healthy ambition, a person can achieve unprecedented heights.

This is a completely normal and natural desire to provide your family with housing, a garage, a garden, or even a swimming pool. Even more natural is the desire of a person to give his children the best education, to send them abroad to ski or sail on a yacht. These are just applications in life. But will people work overtime if they are not lured by such a bait? Who will study scientific treatises day and night if he does not expect to receive an academic degree in the future?

In other words, it is impossible to imagine the progress of mankind apart from the ambitious thoughts of its most enterprising and enterprising representatives.

Ambition as part of other character traits

Ambition itself, without reference to other positive qualities of a person, becomes a mere fantasy. Only when it is in union with purposefulness, perseverance, perseverance, determination, constancy, responsibility, does it turn into a formidable force that crushes all obstacles. Fueled by enthusiasm and inspiration, the ambitious person tries to assert himself in his chosen environment. Thanks to ambition, all a person’s forces are directed towards achieving a goal, as if a clot of colossal energy breaks through the dam of dissatisfaction with life.

Pronounced ambition

If a person is overwhelmed by hypertrophied, exorbitant ambition, not supported by its own significance, then in all its characteristics it becomes akin to cheap vanity. Morbid ambition, which, as in the case of vanity, is associated with the search for vain glory, gives rise to a feeling of chronic dissatisfaction with life, worries and suffering, envy of other people's successes, sacrifice of love for a spouse, children and friends.

Enemies of ambition

This character trait can have only two enemies - an unfulfilled dream and someone’s achieved goal. This is the very case when an arrogant person discovers a lack of talent. Of course, the dream will suffer in this case and will remain a dream forever. If this happens to a person, then his wounded ambition finds the cause in lack of time, in circumstances, bad luck, evil fate and the machinations of enemies.

The second case is a clear example of incorrect goal setting. This is the very moment when ambition collides with lack of happiness, although the peak may already be conquered. Even more suffering comes from the realization that you have always been moving towards an imposed, alien goal, which appeared under the influence of stereotypes, false beliefs, beliefs and the influence of society.

This article told you what ambition is. And how to perceive it is a personal matter for everyone.

Striving to become the best in his field is always commendable and deserves respect. However, when human ambitions force one to commit immoral acts, such a person is not accepted by society. What is ambition and if a person is ambitious, is it good or bad?

What is ambition?

Psychological dictionaries say that ambition is the desire, enshrined in human character, to achieve success in accordance with personal goals in different areas of life. When compared to determination, this term is aimed at personal goals rather than altruistic ones. Unlike greed, ambition partly refers to obtaining material gain. This concept is the subject of ethics, psychology, pedagogy and other equally important humanities.

Sometimes the question becomes relevant: is an ambitious person good or, conversely, unacceptable in society. In a good sense, ambition drives a person to achieve any achievements in his or her activities. In other words, a person does everything to do his job perfectly. At the same time, he may have a desire to stand out, be in the spotlight, receive flattering reviews, and climb the career ladder.

However, such a person will always do his job properly. high level and you can rely on him. Without such a quality as ambition, it is impossible in sports, competitions and other competitions. People here tend to strive for victories and these are quite healthy ambitions. However, there are situations when a person can completely forget about decency to achieve goals, loves flattery and servility, then this is not very good and can even be called vanity.

Ambition and vanity - differences

If a person is ambitious, this means that he certainly strives to be the best in various areas of life, and this cannot but inspire respect. Being a very good specialist in your field and at the same time being responsible for your work cannot but set an example for others. This is the main difference between ambition and vanity, where there is excessive attraction of attention to one’s person. There is a fine line between vanity and ambition, when one of these qualities can turn into the other. In such situations, a person can praise his own merits.

Ambition and ambitiousness

Ambition is understood as ambitious claims, the desire to achieve set goals. Here is the desire to obtain a certain status, to achieve a worthy position. When we talk about healthy ones, we are talking about all those motives that encourage a person to strive to become more successful. Thanks to them, there is a desire to achieve your goals and become more successful. However, if ambitions are not justified, then a person can look very funny.

Ambition can be very beneficial for every person. So, it’s difficult for those who want to climb the career ladder to do without it. Here the winner can be the one who, in addition to professionalism, also has such important qualities. Ambition often helps in sports, since a strong-willed person is unlikely to agree that participation is important. He will certainly want to become a winner.

Arrogance and Ambition

Ambition is often associated with arrogance. This is due to the fact that it is important for a person to be confident that he can achieve his goals. However, if he has doubts at the very start, then his goal will be unrealistic. People with ambitions are controversial. On the one hand, they delight, because they know what they want, but on the other hand, they can cause negative emotions because they can commit immoral acts. Sometimes this happens when it comes to painful ambition. This quality becomes good or bad in the hands of the person himself.

Ambition and reputation

Everyone, or almost every person, is concerned about their reputation. This is especially true for people in high positions. They try to do everything in order not to spoil their own face in the eyes of others. It will depend on whether a particular person has honor and ambition. So, if a person strives to achieve success in his profession and at the same time tries to perform his duties perfectly, he has every chance of earning respect in the eyes of others.

How to develop ambition?

Having ambitious goals is good. If you want to develop ambition, here are some valuable tips:

1. It is necessary to repeat positive statements as often as possible. These are statements that resemble self-compliments. With their help, you can improve your self-esteem and problem-solving skills in stressful situations.
2. It is important to concentrate on what you can get and think less about what you can lose.
3. It is necessary to think about failure as a process of elimination.
4. You should enjoy your successes, but not get hung up on them.
5. You need to set specific goals and at the same time create a strategy to achieve them. Defining short-term and long-term goals. What matters here is to reward yourself every time you achieve your goal.

Ambition in Orthodoxy

The Orthodox religion claims that ambition is a sin. A real Christian should not be like this, because it may upset God. The Christian religion says that every person should be modest and not stand out. The Bible tells us that during his life, Jesus Christ avoided glory and honor when healing the sick. The Holy Gospel says that one must avoid such a vice as hypertrophied ambition.

). Love of honors, thirst for honors, desire for them. A man of enormous ambition.

Dictionary Ushakova. D.N. Ushakov. 1935-1940.

Synonyms:

See what “ambition” is in other dictionaries:

Mystery of feelings * Memory * Desire * Dream * Enjoyment * Loneliness * Waiting * Fall * Memory * Victory * Defeat * Glory * Conscience * Passion * Superstition * Respect * ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

Ambition, ambitiousness, careerism, vanity, vanity, love of fame Dictionary of Russian synonyms. ambition love of glory (obsolete) / excessive: vanity Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z.E.... ... Synonym dictionary

Ambition- Ambition ♦ Ambition A thirst for success, often aimed at the future and expressed in specific actions. Ambition characterizes not so much the current state (as opposed to pride) and current activity (as opposed to zeal), but... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

ambition- the expression in the individual of motives for achieving primacy, the desire for fame, for receiving awards, for an honorable position in a certain field of activity, sphere of public life. Hypertrophied ambition is enhanced by arrogant vanity... ... Great psychological encyclopedia

ambition- AMBITION, vanity, outdated. love of fame Ambitionist, careerist, bookish. herostratus AMBITIOUS, vain, outdated. fame-loving... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

AMBITION, I, cf. Thirst for fame, honor, desire for an honorable position. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

ambition- great ambition colossal ambition insatiable ambition exorbitant ambition unheard of ambition enormous ambition amazing ambition monstrous ambition ... Dictionary of Russian Idioms

AMBITION- is a socio-psychological trait of a person, expressed in the desire to perform actions in the name of achieving leadership in a team, group ( public life, science, culture, etc.). Ch. can act as a stable positive motive,... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

Ambition- a negative spiritual and moral quality of a person, manifested as a person’s desire for honor, glory, fame, recognition, honor or a higher position. Ambition, especially highly developed, kills ordinary human beings... ... Fundamentals of spiritual culture ( encyclopedic Dictionary teacher)

AMBITION- the expression in the individual of motives for achieving primacy, the desire for fame, for receiving awards, for an honorable position in any field of activity, sphere of public life. Hypertrophied ambition is enhanced by arrogant vanity... ... Eurasian wisdom from A to Z. Explanatory dictionary

Books

• Two Napoleons. Rise and fall. French revolution opened the way for many ambitious people, among whom Napoleon Bonaparte, a native of the island patriarchal Corsica, rises like a rock. Small, ugly, talking...

Each individual has his own idea of ​​bad and good character traits. A certain person can evaluate some qualities as positive, others as negative. While another person will give these concepts a completely different characteristic. We all decide for ourselves what is bad and what is good for us, and it is impossible to give an exact definition to the concept of “honor” or “ambition.”

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Definition of the term ambition

Wikipedia gives us the following definition of the term “ambition”: the character-based desire of an individual to achieve success in accordance with personal goals in such areas of life as personal productivity, success, recognition, influence, leadership, knowledge or power. Thus, ambition is an individual’s desire to achieve certain successes. We can conclude that this quality is positive in nature, because it is impossible to calculate an individual’s desire to achieve heights negative quality personality. However, many psychologists take the opposite point of view.

An ambitious person in psychology is an individual who is in constant search of veneration and respect from other people. He likes it when people literally “look into his mouth”, admiring his exploits and successes. Such people can be found both in fairy tales and in real life. Let's give an example from the literature. A character named Ambitious appears in a popular fairy tale for adults. Saint-Exupery perfectly represents the individual in The Little Prince who wants everyone to admire and imitate him.

Signs of an ambitious personality

The term “ambition” can be broken down into two words: honor and love. The phrase “love honor” sounds positive only if the individual who craves honor actually does good deeds and achieves success towards his goal. The other side of this aspect is the desire to achieve set goals no matter what, while infringing on the interests of others and putting one’s own person above others. In psychology, this is an indicator of selfish behavior, which is not a positive personality trait. Many great psychologists have said that selfishness is a sin of the human soul.

There are several signs by which you can recognize an ambitious person.

1. Selfishness- This is the first sign of a selfish individual. A person striving for veneration is an egoist. In ethics, there is the concept of “exploitative orientation,” according to which a person uses the people around him to achieve his own goals. Such people are not accepted by society; it is difficult for them to make friends and acquaintances. For an ambitious person, honor is just a mirage that they want to create in order to rise in the eyes of others.
2. Ambition among ambitious people they are usually overestimated, but not justified. An individual may set too many goals that he cannot achieve both physically and emotionally. An ambitious person may lie about the amount of work he is able to do. Such an individual can easily lie for his own benefit.
3. Pride- This is one of the signs that distinguishes an ambitious person. It should never be confused with pride. Pride is one of the deadly sins. Such people usually have high self-esteem; they have a high opinion of themselves and their capabilities. Such people are also not accepted by society and are rejected by it.
4. Acute response to criticism- This is a fairly common sign found in ambitious people. When forming a personality, two paths arise - accept criticism and adequately evaluate it, or reject criticism and react sharply to it. People who desire honor usually cannot take criticism well and react aggressively and irritably.

How to get rid of ambition

The roots of this quality lie in childhood. If a child has always been taught to be first, get excellent grades, excel in all activities, and do everything “better than everyone else,” he may develop a desire to receive honors and praise for the work he does. It is worth remembering that ambition is negative and positive quality, which has its advantages and disadvantages. If an individual feels that he wants to get rid of it, it is worth looking for the reasons for the emergence of such a character trait in early childhood.

There are various trainings and exercises that allow you to fight ambition.

An important point in any of these exercises is determining the individual’s self-esteem and correct analysis. Self-esteem can be:

• adequate;
• inadequate;
• average;
• high;
• low.

The ideal indicator is average adequate self-esteem. With adequate analysis, people who strive for veneration notice that their self-esteem is high and inadequate. In some cases, ambitious people have high adequate self-esteem.

Ambitious people in some cases actually achieve great success. A striking example is Steve Jobs. He considered himself an ambitious, moderately selfish person who reacts sharply to criticism. Thus, each individual decides for himself whether ambition is a positive or negative personality trait, and then decides whether to get rid of this quality or, conversely, develop it.