The Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume, a friend of Adam Smith, called humility one of the “monkish” virtues, and he didn’t mean that as a compliment. Humble people, he seemed to say, weren’t cut out for capitalism. Skip ahead if you don’t want to read the whole deliciously acerbic passage from his “Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”:
Celibacy, fasting, penance, mortification, self-denial, humility, silence, solitude and the whole train of monkish virtues; for what reason are they everywhere rejected by men of sense, but because they serve to no manner of purpose; neither advance a man’s fortune in the world, nor render him a more valuable member of society; neither qualify him for the entertainment of company, nor increase his power of self-enjoyment? We observe, on the contrary, that they cross all these desirable ends; stupify the understanding and harden the heart, obscure the fancy and sour the temper. We justly, therefore, transfer them to the opposite column, and place them in the catalogue of vices; nor has any superstition force sufficient among men of the world, to pervert entirely these natural sentiments. A gloomy, hair-brained enthusiast, after his death, may have a place in the calendar; but will scarcely ever be admitted, when alive, into intimacy and society, except by those who are as delirious and dismal as himself.
I kind of see Hume’s point. If progress in capitalism is fueled by people’s pursuit of their self-interest, we’re not going to get very far if everyone is into mortification, self-denial and so on.
On the other hand, we are taught from childhood to be humble. Humility is a core virtue in Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other religions. From Tuesday evening until Wednesday evening is the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which includes the prayer “Here I am, poor in deeds.”
I did some reading and came to the conclusion that humility and capitalism aren’t necessarily in conflict. They can actually go together quite well. Although it partly depends on what you mean by humility.
Humility is a tricky virtue to talk about. If you say you’re not humble, you’re probably telling the truth. On the other hand, if you say you are humble, you’re probably not, because people who are humble don’t go around bragging about it. Then there’s the paradox that to be humble is good but to be humbled is really bad. Tricky, right?