CFP: The Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility

Saint Louis University, with the help of a generous grant from The John Templeton Foundation, welcomes proposals from philosophers and theologians for "The Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility" project. We aim to support a maximum of 16 one-year research fellowships on the philosophy and theology of intellectual humility, totaling $1.5 million in awards. The deadline to submit letters of intent isSeptember 13, 2013. 

Project Directors: 

John Greco and Eleonore Stump, Saint Louis University.

Overview: 

Intellectual humility is an intellectual virtue, a character trait that allows the intellectually humble person to think and reason well.  It is plausibly related to open-mindedness, a sense of one's own fallibility, and a healthy recognition of one's intellectual debts to others. If intellectual humility marks a mean between extremes, then related vices would be (on the one side) intellectual arrogance, closed-mindedness, and overconfidence in one's own opinions and intellectual powers, and (on the other side) undue timidity in one's intellectual life, or even intellectual cowardice. The Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility project will focus on a variety of philosophical and theological issues relevant to the topic of intellectual humility. This project aims to:

• Gain a better understanding of the nature and value of intellectual humility.
• Employ and develop recent empirical research on intellectual humility and related subjects, especially the empirical investigation being conducted under the aegis of Fuller Theological Seminary's "Science of Intellectual Humility" project. 
• Investigate issues related to intellectual humility, such as its relation to other virtues and/or vices, its place in the broader context of virtue epistemology, the role of humility in disagreement, its connection to problems of religious pluralism, and its implications for issues of divine hiddenness. 
• Lay the groundwork for further research on how to foster greater intellectual humility in individuals and civil society.

Researchers from philosophy and theology are invited to request between $40,000 and $100,000 for a research project of up to one year. We anticipate making 16 awards. 

Funding is primarily aimed at semester or yearlong sabbatical research-leave projects involving a book manuscript or series of substantive articles on issues connected with intellectual humility (see Key Questions below). A residential incentive of $6,000 for one semester or $12,000 for an academic year will be offered to philosophy and theology RFP winners who are willing to move to Saint Louis University during the award period, and this stipend would not count as part of the research funding request. A willingness to move will not be taken into account when evaluating proposals. 

Proposals that do not directly or explicitly engage empirical work are appropriate.  However, project proposers should be informed by relevant empirical work, for example that generated by the Science of Intellectual Humility project.

Award winners will be invited to participate in a mid-point conference at Saint Louis University in May of 2014, and a summer seminar and capstone conference in Los Angeles in May 2015. Questions about this RFP should be directed to [email protected].