Humility is not a virtue

Abstract

The literature on humility, almost without exception, simply assumes that it is a virtue and goes on to analyze it from there. Here, two theses are defended, one negative and one positive. The negative thesis, that humility is not a virtue, is supported by a reduction ad absurdum of the claim that humility is a virtue. The positive thesis is that humility is rightly understood on the model of continence, which is not a virtue. Rather, continence and humility are “correctives”, in that continence corrects for incontinence and humility corrects for arrogance. And as continence is a subordinate of temperance, humility is a subordinate of justice.

Topics & Concepts