Abstract

In this precis of The Mismeasure of the Self I summarise and motivate the attitudinal framework adopted in the book. I defend an account of intellectual humility as a virtue of self-evaluation based on attitudes to the self motivated by the need for knowledge. I provide brief descriptions of some intellectual vices of inferiority and superiority and explain that they are underpinned by attitudes serving either ego-defensive or social adjustive functions. Finally, I detail some of the harms caused by these vices, defend the view that people are responsible for them, and describe an intervention designed to ameliorate vice.