> People might start off arrogant but once they acquire enough superior general knowledge they figure they know jack and forces them to be humble ?
There are too many other variables at play - i.e. inherent psychological disposition, environmental and social factors, institutional incentives - to know how cause and effect work in the development of intellectual humility.
But sometimes arrogance in general (and perhaps intellectual arrogance too) is itself just a thin defense against a dominating unexamined insecurity about oneself.
If acquiring more general knowledge helps make you more comfortable with yourself, it might make you more intellectually humble, but it could also do nothing, or even the opposite.
There are too many other variables at play - i.e. inherent psychological disposition, environmental and social factors, institutional incentives - to know how cause and effect work in the development of intellectual humility.
But sometimes arrogance in general (and perhaps intellectual arrogance too) is itself just a thin defense against a dominating unexamined insecurity about oneself.
If acquiring more general knowledge helps make you more comfortable with yourself, it might make you more intellectually humble, but it could also do nothing, or even the opposite.