  The feature of modesty and humility that has most captivated philosophers is its elusive nature. It seems as though knowing that you’re modest somehow spoils it; the modest person, it seems, must be unaware of their own modesty. Modesty can seem to be, as Sorensen (1988) puts it, a kind of ethical blindspot: If you have it you won’t know it (and if you seem to know you have it, you probably don’t really!)