Pride and Prejudice. On some Difficulties of ethical Self Evaluation

"Pride and Prejudice" addresses the question why it is that we human beings cannot know about our moral or ethical qualities in such a way that we are able to infallibly ascribe them to ourselves. Given that there is something like a first-person authority with respect to the knowledge of one's own feelings, beliefs, and intentions, the lack of such an authority with respect to the knowledge of one's virtues has to be explained. The difficulties in evaluating oneself ethically, e.g. to take oneself to be modest or temperate, as well as the claim that this can only be done by way of adopting another person's perspective is perfectly presented in Plato's Charmides. Plato, however, does not answer the question what the difficulty rests upon. After a careful exploration of the problem, the paper presents two possible answers. For both of them, Aristotle's considerations in the Nicomachean Ethics play a crucial role.