Humility and Modern Politics

FAIN: FA-52756-06

Mary Martha Keys
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)

This project examines modern political thought and practice through the lens of modernity's many critiques of humility. A virtue of special significance to Jews and Christians, humility came to be regarded as a debilitating passion or vice in much mainstream modern thought. After assessing the critiques of humility offered by Hume, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Tocqueville, and others, and the role of these critiques in their larger ethical and political theories, the project turns to examine key positive valuations of humility in classical, medieval, and contemporary thought. Special attention is given to the question of what political life in the 21st century stands to gain from a renewed appreciation of humility as virtue.

Associated Products

Pride, Politics, and Humility in Augustine's City of God (Book)
Title: Pride, Politics, and Humility in Augustine's City of God
Author: Mary M. Keys
Abstract: Augustine's masterwork The City of God is the first major text in the history of Western thought to give humility and pride pivotal roles in its analysis. Written for Augustine's own tumultuous age, the book transcends its time as an enduring classic engaging our human condition in ways that prompt readers to return to it in every era and amid a great variety of political societies and cultures. The City of God has exerted a profound influence on medieval, renaissance, modern, and contemporary thought, especially concerning politics, religion, and philosophy.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/1289363147
Primary URL Description: World Cat citation
Secondary URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009201049
Secondary URL Description: Cambridge University Press website
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781009201070
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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