By Addison Gernenz | Intern
In his book “Orthodoxy,” author and theologian G.K. Chesterton wrote, “What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place … A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.”
What Chesterton talks about here is a lack of intellectual humility.
Intellectual humility involves the awareness and responsibility of one’s own intellectual limitations. This means recognizing the presence of your intelligence and your lapses in such. Through this awareness, individuals will be able to pursue deeper knowledge, truth and understanding.
A lack of intellectual humility keeps outsiders from joining one’s community and alienates insiders through pride, whether manifested in arrogance or self-deprecation.
Aristotle addressed this in book four of “Nicomachean Ethics” when he introduced the virtue of magnanimity.
Aristotle thought that magnanimity was “the crown of the virtues” and wrote that to be magnanimous, one must be grounded in the four basic virtues: prudence, justice, self-control and courage.
Aristotle defined a magnanimous person as having a great soul — great spirit, great heart, great mind — who acts in accordance with their worth. Following Aristotle’s view of the Golden Mean (all virtues are located in the middle, which is the “mean,” between two vices, which would be two extremes), magnanimity is set between a person who is self-deprecating (and suffers from what I would call false humility) and a person who is excessive in their boasting.
Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas first introduced the virtue of humility to magnanimity. Magnanimity may seem contradictory to intellectual humility, but I think it is essential to the development of this virtue. I believe these twin virtues help lead individuals to a careful balance.
Magnanimity opens one’s eyes to see their gifts and their potential, while humility allows one to see the gifts and potential of the people around them.
This is the root of intellectual humility.
Recognize your gifts and your potential. Be aware of skills you have and do not downplay them in an attempt to appear humble.
At the same time, do not use your intelligence and talent to place yourself above others. Use it to have conversations, to teach and to learn from others and see their gifts, which you may not have, as a result.
This mindset is valuable in many areas of life. From religious dialogue to educational settings to public discourse, practicing intellectual humility helps one engage constructively with the people around them.
In his book “Mere Christianity,” scholar and theologian C.S. Lewis wrote that “if anyone would like to acquire humility … the first step is to realise that one is proud.” He goes on to say that if one believes they are not conceited, it means they are “very conceited indeed.”
If anyone would like to acquire humility, one must recognize where their intelligence lies and where it lacks. This requires the setting aside of pride.
Looking back at Chesterton, poor intellectual humility is simply humility in the wrong place.
Chesterton continued to write that “the old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.”
This is the consequence of a lack of intellectual humility. Without proper awareness of one’s intellectual limitations, one does not know where they need to grow or what they need to learn. They are unaware of their intellectual position, either through a self-deprecating perspective or a conflated ego.
To be rightly ordered with yourself and with the people around you, particularly in settings which encourage conversation and discourse, you need to approach situations with this kind of humility.
I encourage you to look at yourself and evaluate your strengths — because they do exist. Look at the people around you and evaluate where they might be able to teach you, through their own strengths. Through intellectual humility, we learn from one another and, as a whole, become better people.
