Humility in learning: A Confucian perspective*

Abstract

Little research exists on humility in human learning and from a cultural perspective. This article reviews current research and conceptualizes humility as a basic human potential that can become a virtue when cultivated. But the cultivation depends on the cultural values placed on humility. Although humility is recognized in the West, ambivalence toward it exists because it may contradict important Western values of self-esteem and self-confidence in learning. By contrast, the Confucian conception of humility is geared toward moral self-cultivation in learning. In discussing this type of humility, the West appeals more to cognitive considerations of correctness or wrongness of one’s beliefs and acceptance of one’s fallibilities as a knower/learner. Quite differently, the Confucian view presumes the learner as never-full and warns about the trap of conceit, appealing to one’s constant need to self-improve. The more one achieves, the greater the need to remain humble. The condition for fostering such humility and a likely developmental process are entertained.

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