Comment by minhyongkim on Vanity and Ambition in Mathematics · 2010-10-17T01:22:41.044Z · LW · GW

Although I agree on the whole, it might be worth recalling that 'I don't understand' can be agressive criticism in addition to being humility or a skill. Among many examples of this aspect, I rather like the passage on Kant in Russell's history of western philosophy, where he writes something like: 'I confess to never having understood what is meant by categories.'