We have come, then, to the end of our reflections on Kantian humility. In closing, I offer a final image upon which to reflect, one which pulls together many of the aspects of the state considered, and returns us to the question of whether humility is something possible for the “common” person seeking to be moral. In so doing, I also exit my philosophical mode of expression, turning to what I admit may be a more exhortatory reflection on the possibilities for humility in our own world.

Zosima, Alyosha's elder in the monastery, was a soldier before he became a monk. Years after his soldiering days, and not long before his death, Zosima recounts a course of life-changing events which led him to leave his military career. He had gotten into a jealous dispute with the new husband of a young woman to whom Zosima himself had been attracted. At a party, he “succeeded in making fun of him bitingly and wittily” (Dostoevsky, 1958, 357) to such an extent that this man challenged Zosima to a duel. The night before the duel, Zosima, under the pressure of the situation he found himself in, gets upset with one of his own servants, and punches him in the face. After a fitful, and short, night's sleep, Zosima awakes to prepare for the duel, but finds he is feeling “shameful and distasteful” (Dostoevsky, 1958, 358).