text:
Talk:Great man theory

Various
incorrect grammar in several places, and obvious bias, even though I happen to agree with it.

Funny how you have to present this as an either/or situation at both ends of the extreme (either history is shaped exclusively by socioeconomic forces - or by great men alone?), but I guess that's what narrowmindedness will get you. Taking contemporary historical research and academia into account, I would be willing to bet that the entry author's claim about current scholars rejecting only the one extreme (that history is only shaped by great men), but not the other (that there are no great men at all ; every historical development being a product of environmental, socio-economical, libidinal, or what-have-you forces) misses the mark completely. History, as researched in today's academial environment, does very often (and not without reason) focus on great men, and very much at that. If, then, modern scholars despise any theory suggesting that great men might "create" history just as often as social and economic conditions do, why would they concentrate so much energy on researching the motives, inclinations and actions of these same great men?

Seems like a misrepresentation to me. -- Shouldn't Tolstoy's criticism of the "great man", as presented in War and Peace, be included in criticism? Most of the book covers the idea that history is not shaped by singular figures, refuting the great man claim eloquently

Isn't this also a theory in historiography, or philosophy of history?

Maybe. I've only heard about it in conjunction with film history so far, but that doesn't mean much...

The Krygier reference should be deleted immediately unless full and verifiable publication details are provided. No such book, article, or dissertation shows up in searches of Google, Amazon, WorldCat, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, HOLLIS catalogue, ProQuest Digital Dissertations, or Philosophers Index.

Back to the topic rather than bickering over details of complete unimportance
Too many people are tampering with this article, trying to turn it into a sexist ideology, others are attempting to make this an example of a European imperialist or racist attitude. Lets worry less about the minor details and more about the theory as it was claimed and understood at the time of its formulation. That being said, my completely unimportant POV is this: Those that dwell too much on socio-economic conditions forget who created those conditions in the first place, as culture and economics are to begin with a product of 'great men' (great people in politically correct terms) or 'great civilizations,' 'great nations' et al. The influence of cultural Marxism has attempted to blur these lines, thus reducing human progress to a mere random phenomenon of no consequence and ultimately the lowest common denominator of human capacity. Essentially accidental, as 'anyone' and 'everyone' can create culture under certain conditions according to Marxism and thus high culture procludes biology, status, or wealth. On the other side those that claim 'great men' are the source of all progress are denounced as defenders of the status quo as well as imepeding true progress for selfish reasons, eg. profit. Such is perhaps the fate of all human greatness, those 'great people' who create that high culture through sacrifice, struggle and overcoming adversity fall victims to decay and errosion of that greatness through the passing of time as greatness never remains long under static and degenerating conditions (eg. the immoral state which places the existence of itself over its people who sustain it). Under such stagnent conditions where greatness is lacking, the beaurocrats replace greatness over time and impliment rigid systems to prolong the system beyond its natural life span against the forces of decay and collapse, thus giving cultural marxism a purpose and perhaps justification. All great civilizations in known history have fallen victim to the cultural marxists of their day in some form or another, and ultimately were overwhelmed by others of a greater nature or succombed to ultimate collapse in the abscence of greatness. Some cultures throughout history have staved off such corruption and collapse only by reinvigorating their own internal greatness to the point in which it could again sustain itself and prevent its own internal decay, as well as ward off others who sought to replace them. Such is our nature, which this theory attempts to explain. It has little to do with race, background or social status. Such things tend to be largely constructed, or at least appear that way once the original creative forces that forged those things to begin with have faded and dissapeared with time. The question is, will humanity succomb to the challenges it faces and fade from existence? or will it struggle on? Bickering over the connotations of 'men' versus 'people' is squabling over mere semantics and certainly won't do much to improve the human condition will it? --Nazrac 05:51, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

 * The huge irony that the page as it stands is a long series of quotations from "Great men in history" refuting the "Great Man in History" theory... and that the talk page seems to be a protracted argument over which "Great men in history" should be included in that list. Andypreston (talk) 08:52, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

Dead white males link
I fail to see any direct connection between the Great Man Theory and Dead white males, but someone who linked both articles to each other apparently does. Can someone explain? It seems to me that the Great Man Theory could just as easily be applied to European culture as any other. And furthermore, linking a theory like this to a particular race ignores that history is a sum of the ocntributions of all people of different races, who have inevitably influenced each other; you cannot limit history to solely white history or the history of any other race. Theshibboleth 19:49, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Except is it usually applied to Great European Males, thanks to the history of European conquests and power and whatnot in the last four hundred years. They are certainly quite related in that sense and are for many people in the historical profession almost synonymns. --Fastfission 00:02, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I've rephrased the link, since "dead white males" isn't really a "notion of history" per se as much as a pejorative term for a particular educational emphasis. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 18:43, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

A Marxist educational emphasis. --Nazrac 05:33, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Redirect to Übermensch?
I know Friedrich Nietzsche was neither the first nor last to propose this theory. However, his works really embody the whole concept. I am wondering if we should simply redirect to Friedrich Nietzsche or Übermensch and then add a sub-section for others who support the idea or something. Nimur 23:21, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
 * NO. Different subject altogether. What do you mean? The article rightly states that Nietzsche was opposed to this theory, he didn't "propose" it! Hegel's philosophy of history concerns more the great man, although it could also be claimed that he opposed himself to it. Santa Sangre 23:56, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Usage of the word "men"
I am not a native English speaker, but I have always understood man and men to mean both specific gender pronouns and gender-neutral pronouns. In such a case, the sentence the name "Great men" would suggest, [excludes] women does not make sense. Is there a Wiki policy or a grammar guide that someone can point to? --70.49.136.45 05:14, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

The American Heritage dictionary, for one, seems to agree with you, as it also bears the definition of "man" as "a human regardless of sex or age; a person". Moreover, it buttresses this usage with a note stating that ''Traditionally, many writers have used man and words derived from it to designate any or all of the human race regardless of sex. In fact, this is the oldest use of the word. In Old English the principal sense of man was “a human,” and the words wer and wyf (or wζpman and wifman) were used to refer to “a male human” and “a female human” respectively. But in Middle English man displaced wer as the term for “a male human,” while wyfman (which evolved into present-day woman) was retained for “a female human.” Despite this change, man continued to carry its original sense of “a human” as well, resulting in an asymmetrical arrangement that many criticize as sexist. Nonetheless, a majority of the Usage Panel still accepts the generic use of man, although the women members have significantly less enthusiasm for this usage than the men do."

My Oxford dictionary also carries the definition of man as "a human regardless of sex or age", so I agree with you that the argument about "Great Men Theory" reflecting some sort of patriarchal power structure at the exclusion of women, is, to say the least, a red herring. I believe such arguments might have their place in articles about the feminist critique of language, but not specifically in the context of an entry concerning the "great man theory". Porfyrios 15:27, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Pejorative?
Well, I have a BA in History (92') and remember this topic in my senior year "Philosophy of History" class. It was discussed in the context of historiography, as a method of approaching and writing history. It was common in the 19th C common, but has fallen out of favor. However to call it "pejorative" is another matter entirely, that is a value judgment, and as such it needs to be said who exactly is casting this value judgment, when and why - for example, my professors never expressed such personal value judgments, nor do I have such a value judgment - who exactly is calling it a pejorative?

Also I find it humorous that the term is being twisted to literally mean "men and not women" .. the Great Man method does not exclude women, it is simply an approach to writing history, it could be applied to Cleopatra or any number of important women in history. Basically the paragraph as written sounds pretentious - it's just an outdated methodology. -- Stbalbach 21:56, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Why don't you try examining the underlying qualities of the theory in question instead sniveling about the gender disrepencies that have occured between the time the theory was put forth and today. If there is any disparity to be found in the term 'men' or 'man' which was at the time the de-facto term in English for all humanity, it is from cultural Marxism attempting to subvert such concepts and alter its connotations by inflaming gender, race and social problems, and then offering the solution in form of "political correctness" which thus transmutes the meaning of such a term into some kind of taboo when no such disparity existed to begin with. --Nazrac 05:38, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

 * instead sniveling. Please refrain from personal attacks. -- Stbalbach 22:55, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any personal attacks, merely constructive criticism. That tends to work better than destructive criticism, such as pointing out spelling and grammar errors. --Nazrac 21:33, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Last paragraph's a bit of a non-sequitur
Is the last paragraph about film an example of the critique outlined in the penultimate one? It isn't really made clear. I think it should begin by saying "An example is.."

 * I think that paragraph should just be deleted. The whole thing seems like a pointless detail, since the article already supplies examples. Galanskov 16:35, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

No sources for claims
The material regarding Britannica and the Encyclopedie is fascinating, but unsourced. I would like to actually pursue this further, but absence a source it is original research and should be removed. --Reagle 17:31, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I can't find the actual quotation for the Spencer quotation...went to the Questia link and it went redirected to the Scarlet Letter. Found it myself on Questia and went to page 36 and can't find the quote. Anyone else have better luck than this? Tjcheckley (talk) 02:12, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Hegel? What?
I am slightly baffled by the sentence that refers to Hegel as a proponent of this idea (or sthg like that, I can't remember). In any case, surely it's the other way round, as in the Hegelian view of history tends to oppose 'Great Man' theory? Tanzeel 01:54, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Neither Hegel nor Nietzsche (a fatalist!) said that "history is made by great men". The latter rather said that great men are the meaning of history, that is: the sense and aim of becoming, but of course not its cause (that would mean causa sui). Actually, the idea is true in so that if a man differs strongly enough from his environment, then he'll most likely grow even more and more different, in the course of self-affirmation. This can lead to much-worse or much-better, and it the latter case really somebody much more valuable (according to some measurement, some will) can arise. TheUgliest 1 May 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.113.74.183 (talk) 06:41, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

What about Emerson ?
I think the article should include one word or two about s:Representative Men/Uses of Great Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Teofilo talk  14:42, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

corollary article of the Great Man theory?
Is there a corollary article of the Great Man theory (i.e. The Least man theory)? Reason being that societies and people seem to bubble up to take credit for a “great men”, but not for people who are unsuccessful and those weak people are considered “self-made men”. Not to be flippant, but could these Great Men really be the fortunate ones who were not in contact with certain people who are the equivalent of a “career short-circuit” and most people in a normal society could be potential “Great Men” if put in contact with those who take credit for making great men. As it says in the Uebermensch article "The most disheartening tendency common among readers is to tear out one sentence from a work, as a criterion of the writer's ideas or personality. Friedrich Nietzsche, for instance, is decried as a hater of the weak because he believed in the Uebermensch. It does not occur to the shallow interpreters of that giant mind that this vision of the Uebermensch also called for a state of society which will not give birth to a race of weaklings and slaves." I was just pondering if there should be such an article that would listed in the “See Also” section, but I do not know what it would be. Any possible suggestions of such an article in WP?Septagram (talk) 22:15, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Are you talking about the Commoners? Cambalachero (talk) 04:12, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Criticism section needs work
The largest and most comprehensive body of critical work about the Great Man approach to history, to date, has come from feminist scholars. Their exclusion from the "Criticism" section is glaring and needs to be corrected. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C434:2A20:216:CBFF:FEB6:2F87 (talk) 01:10, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

 * That's a different issue. The criticism is of the view that leading individuals change history. It's called "great man" because "man" is used in the old sense of "mankind". It might be worth adding a sentence on that point, but only to avoid confusion. It's still same theory whether you are talking about Boudicca or Julius Caesar. Paul B (talk) 21:04, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Spencer, but no Marx?
"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past." The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. Doesn't Marx's comic/tragic insight into a not-so-great man of history also deserve at least a mention here? Spencer may well have been the 'approved' demolisher of the Great Man theory, but I suspect that Marx may perhaps have helped to chip away at the foundations too, and in a more radical manner... AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:12, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

The Good King
In Eastern thought, "The Good King" or Great King is very if not same as "The Great Man" theory. Don't have to be elected leader, sometimes there are good men born to a bloodline that leads his people to a peaceful and prosperous life. Most kings/royalties do not last long because of in fighting and trying to kill each other off for succession. The Good King is raised and trained in the art of government and philosophy, it was a novel idea but impractical in practice because the corrupt heart of ordinary men. In history there were great kings, great emperors, even great bandit kings that in real life robbed the rich and gave to the poor. (There are Robin Hoods in all ethnic history if you look)Neoking (talk) 20:22, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

Kierkegaard
The quote from Fear and Trembling is taken completely out of context!—Arpose (talk) 04:19, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

 * Isn't "history" what professional historians research and write? If Hegel is quoted, why not (poor man) von Ranke? If a professional historian, for professional reasons, is moved to commit biography, is he thereby conscripted to the "great man" school?  And if Carlyle wrote "Frederick the Great", didn't he also write "The French Revolution"?   And wasn't his best work of history "The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell", where the documents stand out from the commentary, as they were intended to?  Certainly it seems to depart from the oppositions presented in this Wikipedia article and advance towards a slightly more "professional" approach. There is something known as "prosopography" which in this context seems of interestDelahays (talk) 12:29, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

 * I agree with Arpose above. This Kierkegaard quote comes from his discussion of faith, not history. His writing often gets lumped in with Hegel and Heidegger, and they share certain philosophical similarities, but Fear and Trembling is not a discussion on the traits that great leaders possess. I am going to take this sentence out entirely. Cal (talk) 14:49, 26 June 2020 (UTC)

Requested move 29 July 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved to Great man theory. Where real-world usage is mixed, we apply in-house style, which is WP:MOSCAPS. I don't see evidence for assertion that "Great Man" is a proper noun, so discounted accordingly. Aervanath's search demonstrates that most sources do downcase the phrase, when you filter out the titles. No such user (talk) 09:44, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

Great Man theory → Great man theory – Per WP:MOSCAPS ("Wikipedia avoids unnecessary capitalization") and WP:TITLE, this is a generic, common term, not a propriety or commercial term, so the article title should be downcased. Lowercase will match the formatting of related article titles. This google ngram search shows significant majority for lowercase usage in books. Tony  (talk)  05:35, 29 July 2017 (UTC) --Relisting.   Dr Strauss   talk   18:59, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Support, per this ngram. 10W41 (talk) 02:50, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
 * What about this ngram - seems to suggest "Great Man" and "great man" are equal in usage terms (if the "Great Man theory" and "Great Man Theory" numbers are added together). Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 02:41, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

 * "Great Man" is a proper noun, in this context it's not a common term. - The   Magnificentist  14:27, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
 * "Great Man" looks to be the correct form to me, and if I were using the phrase, I'd capitalize it. I think the nominator needs to prove by citing examples of its usage that it is not normally used in a capitalized form, rather than just referring to Wikipedia guidelines. Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 22:04, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
 * support; after doing some poking around on Google Scholar, it seems that the non-capitalized version is slightly more common amongst expert sources: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22great+man+theory+of+leadership%22&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5. --Aervanath (talk) 13:26, 19 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Have you really checked every one of those 900 results individually, checking the numbers as well as the type of source? If you have, please give more details as proof of your assertion, such as how do the numbers break down. Google Scholar searches do not differentiate between capitalized and non-capitalized words. On a skim reading for page 1 of the results the non-capitalized form predominates in the clips, for page 2 the capitalised form predominates. Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 02:26, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Original research
I hope you didn't find my reversion hostile. I didn't mean to be combative; I assumed my edit summary explanation would suffice. But on to the article. The section I want to remove on the grounds of it being WP:OR reads as follows:

 * "In Untimely Meditations, Nietzsche writes that: "...the goal of humanity lies in its highest specimens".

 * In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard writes that: "...to be able to fall down in such a way that the same second it looks as if one were standing and walking, to transform the leap of life into a walk, absolutely to express the sublime and the pedestrian—that only these knights of faith can do—this is the one and only prodigy."

 * Hegel, proceeding from providentialist theory, argued that what is real is reasonable and World-Historical individuals are World-Spirit's agents. Hegel opined: "Such are great historical men—whose own particular aims involve those large issues which are the will of the World-Spirit." Thus, according to Hegel, a great man does not create historical reality himself but only uncovers the inevitable future."

Now, you said in your first reversion summary that "Sourced [info], by definition, is not OR". Now, this does follow the part of WP:OR that states "The phrase "original research" (OR) is used on Wikipedia to refer to material—such as facts, allegations, and ideas—for which no reliable, published sources exist." But, the next line says "This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to reach or imply a conclusion not stated by the sources" [emphasis added].

The first two quotes, I believe, serve to reach or imply a conclusion that those writers were offering their thoughts on great man theory, despite the fact that such was not stated by the sources. A search of the text of Untimely Meditations returns no hits for the phrase "great man theory". According to whom was Nietzsche discussing great man theory? According to whom is the quote relevant enough to include in this article? According to some random Wikipedia editor with an interpretation, that's whom. A search of the text of Fear and Trembling returns no hits for "great man theory" and one irrelevant hit for "great man" [this is a 2006 translation I used, seeing as no date or link was provided in the original reference]. The last paragraph is the most obvious example of OR. Like the last example, a search of the text returns no hits for "great man theory" and one irrelevant hit for "great man" [this is a 1900 edition]. Then, following the Hegel quote and its reference, is the unreferenced statement "Thus, according to Hegel, a great man does not create historical reality himself but only uncovers the inevitable future." That may seem obvious, but this is simply the conjecture of the editor who added that info. I'm sure I could find dozens of quotes from various notable figures that say "Great men shape history" and the like, but what makes them notable to include in this article? Are they an accurate representation of great man theory, according to the scholars and historians who study it? Only a secondary source can tell us this (except perhaps quotes from Thomas Carlyle, who created the theory). -Indy beetle (talk) 08:00, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

 * Re-pinging for discussion . -Indy beetle (talk) 23:20, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

 * I haven't forgotten. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:09, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

 * Sorry for the delay. I guess my basic problem is that I don't understand how the quotes from Nietzsche and Kierkegaard aren;t illustrative of the sentence which immediately precedes them: "This heroic view of history was also strongly endorsed by some philosophical figures such as Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Spengler..."  It's not OR in my opinion because it's illustrating that "heroic view" which is at the core of the Great Man Theory. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:39, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
 * If that statement were cited I would perhaps agree with you. But since it is not, it could very well be the opinion of some Wikipedia editor, and therefore be WP:SYNTH. -Indy beetle (talk) 23:53, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, but you didn't remove the statement, just the quotes. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:01, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I didn't think to, but probably should have. However, seeing as you have found supporting sources, I guess the matter is resolved. -Indy beetle (talk) 00:51, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

William James response is given undue weight
The weight given to James seems excessive in comparison to Spencer. I think it would be a good idea to cut down the information on William James by summarizing it concisely and removing some of the long quotes. Right now it seems like it would be difficult for the average reader and a bit excessive. I'm personally not well versed on this subject. --Pythagimedes (talk) 00:02, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Napoleon, a political genius?
Sure, Napoleon was a military genius, but political? Louis XIV is way better at politics than Napoleon84.54.70.206 (talk) 14:26, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Great man theory


text:
Great man theory

The great man theory is an approach to the study of history popularised in the 19th century according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men, or heroes: highly influential and unique individuals who, due to their natural attributes, such as superior intellect, heroic courage, extraordinary leadership abilities, or divine inspiration, have a decisive historical effect. The theory is primarily attributed to the Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who gave a series of lectures on heroism in 1840, later published as On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, in which he states:

"Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones; the modellers, patterns, and in a wide sense creators, of whatsoever the general mass of men contrived to do or to attain; all things that we see standing accomplished in the world are properly the outer material result, the practical realisation and embodiment, of Thoughts that dwelt in the Great Men sent into the world: the soul of the whole world's history, it may justly be considered, were the history of these."This theory is usually contrasted with "history from below", which emphasizes the life of the masses creating overwhelming waves of smaller events which carry leaders along with them. Another contrasting school is historical materialism.

Overview
Carlyle stated that "The History of the world is but the Biography of great men", reflecting his belief that heroes shape history through both their personal attributes and divine inspiration. In his book Heroes and Hero-Worship, Carlyle saw history as having turned on the decisions, works, ideas, and characters of "heroes", giving detailed analysis of six types: The hero as divinity (such as Odin), prophet (such as Muhammad), poet (such as Shakespeare), priest (such as Martin Luther), man of letters (such as Rousseau), and king (such as Napoleon). Carlyle also argued that the study of great men was "profitable" to one's own heroic side; that by examining the lives led by such heroes, one could not help but uncover something about one's own true nature.

As Sidney Hook notes, a common misinterpretation of the theory is that "all factors in history, save great men, were inconsequential", whereas Carlyle is instead claiming that great men are the decisive factor, owing to their unique genius. Hook then goes on to emphasize this uniqueness to illustrate the point: "Genius is not the result of compounding talent. How many battalions are the equivalent of a Napoleon? How many minor poets will give us a Shakespeare? How many run of the mine scientists will do the work of an Einstein?"

American scholar Frederick Adams Woods supported the great man theory in his work The Influence of Monarchs: Steps in a New Science of History. Woods investigated 386 rulers in Western Europe from the 12th century until the French Revolution in the late 18th century and their influence on the course of historical events.

The Great Man approach to history was most fashionable with professional historians in the 19th century; a popular work of this school is the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) which contains lengthy and detailed biographies about the great men of history, but very few general or social histories. For example, all information on the post-Roman "Migrations Period" of European History is compiled under the biography of Attila the Hun. This heroic view of history was also strongly endorsed by some philosophers, such as Léon Bloy, Kierkegaard, Oswald Spengler and Max Weber.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, proceeding from providentialist theory, argued that "what is real is reasonable" and World-Historical individuals are World-Spirit's agents. Hegel wrote: "Such are great historical men—whose own particular aims involve those large issues which are the will of the World-Spirit." Thus, according to Hegel, a great man does not create historical reality himself but only uncovers the inevitable future.

In Untimely Meditations, Friedrich Nietzsche writes that "the goal of humanity lies in its highest specimens". Although Nietzsche's body of work shows some overlap with Carlyle's line of thought, Nietzsche expressly rejected Carlyle's hero cult in Ecce Homo.

Assumptions
This theory rests on two main assumptions, as pointed out by Villanova University:
 * 1) Every great leader is born already possessing certain traits that will enable them to rise and lead on instinct.
 * 2) The need for them has to be great for these traits to then arise, allowing them to lead.

This theory, and history, claims these great leaders as heroes that were able to rise against the odds to defeat rivals while inspiring followers along the way. Theorists say that these leaders were then born with a specific set of traits and attributes that make them ideal candidates for leadership and roles of authority and power. This theory relies then heavily on born rather than made, nature rather than nurture and cultivates the idea that those in power deserve to lead and shouldn't be questioned because they have the unique traits that make them suited for the position.

Herbert Spencer's critique
One of the most forceful critics of Carlyle's formulation of the great man theory was Herbert Spencer, who believed that attributing historical events to the decisions of individuals was an unscientific position. He believed that the men Carlyle supposed "great men" are merely products of their social environment:

"You must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown. ... Before he can remake his society, his society must make him."

William James' defence

William James, in his 1880 lecture "Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment", published in the Atlantic Monthly, forcefully defended Carlyle and refuted Spencer, condemning what James viewed as an "impudent", "vague", and "dogmatic" argument.

James' defence of the great man theory can be summarized as follows: The unique physiological nature of the individual is the deciding factor in making the great man, who, in turn, is the deciding factor in changing his environment in a unique way, without which the new environment would not have come to be, wherein the extent and nature of this change is also dependent on the reception of the environment to this new stimulus. To begin his argument, he first sardonically claims that these inherent physiological qualities have as much to do with "social, political, geographical [and] anthropological conditions" as the "conditions of the crater of Vesuvius has to do with the flickering of this gas by which I write".

James argues that genetic anomalies in the brains of these great men are the decisive factor by introducing an original influence into their environment. They might therefore offer original ideas, discoveries, inventions and perspectives which "would not, in the mind of another individual, have engendered just that conclusion ... It flashes out of one brain, and no other, because the instability of that brain is such as to tip and upset itself in just that particular direction."

James then argues that these spontaneous variations of genius, i.e. the great men, which are causally independent of their social environment, subsequently influence that environment which in turn will either preserve or destroy the newly encountered variations in a form of evolutionary selection. If the great man is preserved then the environment is changed by his influence in "an entirely original and peculiar way. He acts as a ferment, and changes its constitution, just as the advent of a new zoological species changes the faunal and floral equilibrium of the region in which it appears." Each ferment, each great man, exerts a new influence on their environment which is either embraced or rejected and if embraced will in turn shape the crucible for the selection process of future geniuses.

In the words of William James, "If we were to remove these geniuses or alter their idiosyncrasies, what increasing uniformities would the environment exhibit?" James challenges Mr. Spencer or anyone else to provide a reply. According to James, there are two distinct factors driving social evolution: personal agents and the impact of their unique qualities on the overall course of events.

He thus concludes: "Both factors are essential to change. The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community."

Other responses
Before the 19th century, Blaise Pascal begins his Three Discourses on the Condition of the Great (written it seems for a young duke) by telling the story of a castaway on an island whose inhabitants take him for their missing king. He defends in his parable of the shipwrecked king, that the legitimacy of the greatness of great men is fundamentally custom and chance. A coincidence that gives birth to him in the right place with noble parents and arbitrary custom deciding, for example, on an unequal distribution of wealth in favor of the nobles.

Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace features criticism of great-man theories as a recurring theme in the philosophical digressions. According to Tolstoy, the significance of great individuals is imaginary; as a matter of fact they are only "history's slaves," realizing the decree of Providence.

Jacob Burckhardt affirmed the historical existence of great men in politics, even excusing the rarity among them to possess "greatness of soul", or magnanimity: "Contemporaries believe that if people will only mind their own business political morality will improve of itself and history will be purged of the crimes of the 'great men.' These optimists forget that the common people too are greedy and envious and when resisted tend to turn to collective violence." Burckhardt predicted that the belittling of great men would lead to a lowering of standards and rise in mediocrity generally.

Mark Twain suggests in his essay "The United States of Lyncherdom" that "moral cowardice" is "the commanding feature of the make-up of 9,999 men in the 10,000" and that "from the beginning of the world no revolt against a public infamy or oppression has ever been begun but by the one daring man in the 10,000, the rest timidly waiting, and slowly and reluctantly joining, under the influence of that man and his fellows from the other ten thousands."

In 1926, William Fielding Ogburn noted that Great Men history was being challenged by newer interpretations that focused on wider social forces. While not seeking to deny that individuals could have a role or show exceptional qualities, he saw Great Men as inevitable products of productive cultures. He noted for example that if Isaac Newton had not lived, calculus would have still been discovered by Gottfried Leibniz, and suspected that if neither man had lived, it would have been discovered by someone else. Among modern critics of the theory, Sidney Hook is supportive of the idea; he gives credit to those who shape events through their actions, and his book The Hero in History is devoted to the role of the hero and in history and influence of the outstanding persons.

In the introduction to a new edition of Heroes and Hero-Worship, David R. Sorensen notes the modern decline in support for Carlyle's theory in particular but also for "heroic distinction" in general. He cites Robert K. Faulkner as an exception, a proponent of Aristotelian magnanimity who in his book The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics, criticizes the political bias in discussions on greatness and heroism, stating: "the new liberalism’s antipathy to superior statesmen and to human excellence is peculiarly zealous, parochial, and antiphilosophic."

Ian Kershaw wrote in 1998 that "The figure of Hitler, whose personal attributes – distinguished from his political aura and impact – were scarcely noble, elevating or enriching, posed self-evident problems for such a tradition." Some historians like Joachim Fest responded by arguing that Hitler had a "negative greatness". By contrast, Kershaw rejects the Great Men theory and argues that it is more important to study wider political and social factors to explain the history of Nazi Germany. Kershaw argues that Hitler was an unremarkable person, but his importance came from how people viewed him, an example of Max Weber's concept of charismatic leadership.

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title: Great man theory