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T y R a t e r m a n
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"On Modesty: Being Good and Knowing It Without Flaunting It" American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 3 (July 2006)
Abstract
A surprising amount of disagreement exists in the philosophical literature over how modesty ought to be characterized, and indeed over whether it should even be counted among the virtues. It standardly appears in lists of the virtues, but serious challenges to its inclusion on such lists date back at least to Aristotle. Discussions of modesty have taken on particular importance in recent work on the virtues, since one author has argued at length that modesty necessarily involves ignorance of one’s abilities and accomplishments, and has in turn used modesty (so characterized) in a pivotal role to challenge the long-held view that no virtue consists in, or is based upon, ignorance. This paper is an exploration of whether modesty ought to be considered a virtue. It highlights the good and bad features of various historical and contemporary discussions of modesty. A compelling account of modesty is developed and shown to be preferable to competing accounts. On this account, modesty is situated among the virtues, and is described as an attitude characterized by reluctance – underpinned by appropriate normative reasons – to evaluate oneself in terms of abilities and accomplishments. This account appropriately defies recent attempts to understand the virtues and their importance entirely within a consequentialist framework.
Click here for a .pdf of the entire paper (roughly 8,000 words).
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