Abstract
What kinds of behavior do we expect from arrogant people? Do we expect them to be empathetic with others, or even interested in what other people think? Do we expect them to seek out new information, or demonstrate curiosity? Do we expect them to respond graciously to those with a different viewpoint or have productive conversations with people with whom they disagree? I do not think we usually do. These sorts of behaviors are ones we expect from humble people. In this paper, I argue that humility, in particular, intellectual humility, facilitates the development of empathy and of curiosity. Having these three traits, in turn, makes it more likely that an agent will be open to a diversity of views. To argue for this, I’ll first give some detail about humility, then I’ll explore each of these attitudes in turn. The goal is to illuminate the connection between humility and tolerance by way of each of these discussions.