On intellectual humility

What it means and how it can help solve seemingly intractable political problems

intellectual humility is the willingness to admit that something you believe might be wrong. Think of it as a cousin of open-mindedness or a willingness to listen and carefully consider someone else’s truths. The concept isn’t entirely new—Aristotle and others in the philosophical tradition spoke of intellectual virtues—but there has been a marked increase in research on the subject by behavioral psychologists and other social scientists in the last twenty years. In this series, Conversations on Intellectual Humility, we bring the conversation back to the agora, pairing scholars of intellectual humility with community leaders to explore manifestations of intellectual humility outside the academy.