Yes, and that is what I mean when i say you confuse the concepts :) Modesty is perhaps the better term here. Humlilty is modesty in all aspects of life. Compare it with Piety.
Humility means that you don´t overstate your own importance even when you are successful and that you respect others even if they are less intelligent/successful. It is the opposite of arrogance. If you are successful and brawl much you are arrogant, if you are successful and modest/humble, you don´t brawl.
Besides, shouldn´t a person who believe himself unworthy tend to accept ideas that contradict his own original beliefs more easy? E.g. Oh, Dr. Kopernikues claims that the earth ISN`T flat? Well, who am I to come and believe otherwise?
I think you understand the concept that I was trying to convey, and are trying to say that 'humble' and 'humility' are the wrong labels for that concept. Right? I basically agree with the OED's definition of humility: “The quality of being humble or having a lowly opinion of oneself; meekness, lowliness, humbleness: the opposite of pride or haughtiness.” Note the use of the word opposite, not absence.
...Besides, shouldn´t a person who believe himself unworthy tend to accept ideas that contradict his own original beliefs more easy? E.g. Oh, Dr. Kopernikues c
I have this belief that humility is a part of good critical thinking, and that egoism undermines it. I imagine arrogance as a kind of mind-death. But I have no evidence, and no good mechanism by which it might be true. In fact, I know the belief is suspect because I know that I want it to be true — I want to be able to assure myself that this or that intolerable academic will be magically punished with a decreased capacity to do good work. The truth could be the opposite: maybe hubris breeds confidence, and confidence results? After all, some of the most important thinkers in history were insufferable.
Is any link, positive or negative, between arrogance and reasoning too tenuous to be worth entertaining? Is humility a pretty word or a valuable habit? I don't know what I think yet. Do you?