This interdisciplinary analysis presents an innovative examination of the nature of pride and humility, including all their slippery nuances and points of connection. By combining insights from visual art, literature, philosophy, religious studies, and psychology, this volume adapts a complementary rather than an oppositional approach to examine how pride and humility reinforce and inform one another. This method produces a robust, substantial, and meaningful description of these important concepts. The analysis takes into account key elements of pride and humility, including self-esteem and self-confidence, human interconnectedness, powers function and limitations, and the role of fear. Shawn R. Tucker explores the many inflections of these terms, inflections that cast them by turns as positive or negative, emboldening or discouraging, and salubrious or vicious depending upon the context and manner in which they are used.  

Shawn R. Tucker is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Elon University, USA. He is the author ofThe Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook. He also received a National Endowment for the Humanities Enduring Questions grant to develop a course on pride, humility, and the good life. 

Introduction.- 1. Cautionary Tales.- 3. Varieties of Humility.- 4. Being Humbled.- 5. Humiliation, Humility, and Humor.- 6. Achilles and Celie.