Limitations-Owning and the Interpersonal Dimensions of Intellectual Humility

Abstract

According to one prominent account of intellectual humility, it consists of a disposition to “own” one's intellectual limitations. Because it describes intellectual humility as inward-facing or interpersonal, this account been criticized for neglecting the interpersonal dimensions of IH. We expect intellectually humble persons to be, for instance, respectful and generous with their interlocutors and to avoid being haughty or domineering. I defend the limitations-owning account against this objection in two ways. First, I argue that some of the interpersonal qualities associated with intellectual humility are qualities expressive of virtues other than intellectual humility. Second, I argue that, when properly described, the kind of limitations-owning characteristic of intellectual humility in fact is robustly interpersonal. The result is a considerably broader and richer characterization of intellectual humility understood as a disposition to own one's intellectual limitations.