The joy of being wrong: The power of intellectual humility

This week is all about bravery.

It’s not about the fighting, hunting, or sporting type of bravery. Instead, it’s about the epistemic virtue of intellectual humility. It’s the bravery that comes in admitting when we do not know something or that we might have been wrong in our beliefs. It’s an act of bravery because it takes enormous courage to admit that you are fallible, ignorant, or mistaken. In an age of braggards, the humble man is a clown.

But of this bravery, so much is born. In the open-minded forum of a dialectic, we all move forward. Personally and collectively, the first step toward progress is to admit our shortcomings and point at the gaps in our knowledge. Then, we can work out how best to repair both.

I know nothing,

Some people in life are great at meaningful conversations. They are the people who we can debate with for hours, without it ever feeling like a personal attack. It’s an open, receptive, and enjoyable experience, not one laced with animosity or one that leads to the beat of a pounding heart.

Imagine a conversation about your views on religion. With some people, this will feel like you have been thrown into the trenches, battle armor on, with a disturbingly passionate need not to give an inch. With others, it feels like a forum — an easy back and forth, sometimes conceding, sometimes sticking to your views.

In our Video of the week, we explore the intellectual humility that defines the latter. What the video shows is that when people challenge our beliefs, “our brains actually react…the same way as threats to our physical well-being.” Our beliefs and values are who we are, and when someone criticizes them, it’s only natural to feel like they are attacking our very being. Intellectual humility — the ability to admit mistakes and change beliefs — is what “defines the last two centuries.” But, it seems we have lost our way. What was once celebrated, is now the forgotten virtue of our age.

Intellectual humility is the ground in which progress grows. It makes society and science work and pushes civilization forward a step. It also makes for much more enjoyable conversations.

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