Humility : The Secret History of a Lost Virtue

Bellitto, Christopher M.

Georgetown University Press（2023/09発売）

Georgetown University Press（2023/09発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 176 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781647123765
• DDC分類 179.9

Full Description

This cultural history of humility reveals this lost virtue as a secret defense against arrogance and incivility

History demonstrates that when the virtue of humility is cast aside, excessive individualism follows. A person who lacks humility is at risk of developing a deceptive sense of certitude and at worst denies basic human rights, respect, and dignity to anyone they identify as the enemy.

Humility, a cultural history and biography of the idea of humility, argues that the frightening alternative to humility has been the death of civility. In this book, Bellitto explores humility in Greco-Roman history, philosophy, and literature; in the ancient and medieval Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptures and sermons; in the Enlightenment; and in contemporary discussions of education in virtue and citizenship. The author encourages readers to recover and reclaim this lost virtue by developing a new perspective on humility as an alternative to the diseases of hubris, arrogance, and narcissism in society.

This book offers a fresh perspective on this lost virtue for readers interested in finding a path to renewed civility.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue: The Problem and the Potential
Chapter One: Ancient Notions of Humility
Chapter Two: Humility in a Biblical Key
Chapter Three: A Medieval Golden Age
Chapter Four: The Paradox of Learned Ignorance
Chapter Five: Modernity Forgets—and Starts to Remember
Epilogue: Recovering a Lost Virtue
Bibliography
Index
About the Author