Intellectual Humility Versus Intellectual Arrogance
Intellectual humility entails awareness of the limits of your
knowledge, including sensitivity to circumstances in which your
native egocentrism keeps you from seeing the truth in situations. It
entails sensitivity to your biases and prejudices, and the limitations
of your viewpoint. Intellectual humility is based on the recognition
that people should not claim more than they actually know. It
does not imply spinelessness or submissiveness. It implies the
lack of intellectual boastfulness or conceit, combined with insight
into the strengths or weaknesses in your beliefs. The opposite of
intellectual humility is intellectual arrogance.
Intellectual arrogance is the natural egocentric human tendency to believe that you know more than you do, that your thinking is rarely wrong, that you don’t need to improve your thinking, that you are in receipt of THE TRUTH.
One of the most powerful barriers to the development of human thought is the egocentric tendency to think that whatever we believe is true.
Those who think critically are keenly aware of this problem in human thought, and are on the look-out for it in their own thinking. They work to develop the intellectual virtue of intellectual humility; they are committed to diminishing the power and likelihood of intellectual arrogance in their thinking. But they recognize that they will always be, at times, subject to this tendency.
Intellectual arrogance is the natural egocentric human tendency to believe that you know more than you do, that your thinking is rarely wrong, that you don’t need to improve your thinking, that you are in receipt of THE TRUTH.
One of the most powerful barriers to the development of human thought is the egocentric tendency to think that whatever we believe is true.
Those who think critically are keenly aware of this problem in human thought, and are on the look-out for it in their own thinking. They work to develop the intellectual virtue of intellectual humility; they are committed to diminishing the power and likelihood of intellectual arrogance in their thinking. But they recognize that they will always be, at times, subject to this tendency.
Activity:
Distinguish Intellectual Humility From Intellectual Arrogance
State your understanding of intellectual
humility and intellectual arrogance.
Complete these statements:
Activity:
Identify Your Prejudices
Try to construct a list of your most
significant prejudices and define them,
using the outline below.
Activity:
Distinguishing What You Know For Certain From
What You Do Not Know
People tend to have an inflated view of
their knowledge, even about things and
people of which they should have significant
knowledge. This is a natural defect in the
human mind, and one we all must combat
if we are to develop a healthy amount of
intellectual humility.
Activity:
Target Your Assertions
Think of a situation you were in recently
wherein you stated something to be true
which you in fact were not sure of, and
then analyze the situation.
Complete these statements: