The Inquiring Mind: On Intellectual Virtues and Virtue Epistemology

Description

"You have to be willing to pursue the truth wherever it leads, regardless of the personal cost to you, because if you don't have the truth, then it's already costed you."

—Fr. Chad Ripperger on intellectual humility (vs. what he calls intellectual effeminacy)

Abstract

This book is a contribution to “responsibilist” or character‐based virtue‐epistemology, which is an approach to epistemology that gives a primary role to reflection on intellectual character virtues like inquisitiveness, open‐mindedness, carefulness and thoroughness in inquiry, and intellectual courage, rigor, and generosity. Beyond providing an accessible introduction to virtue epistemology and intellectual virtues, the book has two main goals. The first is to shed light on the nature and structure of intellectual virtues and their role in the cognitive economy. To this end, it examines the difference between intellectual virtues and intellectual faculties, talents, temperaments and skills, develops a “personal worth” account of the nature of an intellectual virtue, contrasts this account with several others, and provides analyses of two individual virtues: namely, open‐mindedness and intellectual courage. The second main goal is to account for the role that reflection on intellectual character virtues should play within epistemology at large. Here three main claims are defended. The first is that the concept of intellectual virtue does not merit a central or fundamental role with traditional epistemology. The second is that it does, nonetheless, merit a secondary or background role in this context. The third is that intellectual character virtues and their role in the intellectual life considered in their own right can form the basis an approach to epistemology that is distinct from but complementary to traditional epistemology. Finally, an Appendix examines the relation between intellectual and moral virtues.

Keywords: virtue epistemology, intellectual virtues, character and knowledge, knowledge and agency, personal worth, open‐mindedness, intellectual courage, intellectual virtues vs. moral virtues

mentions Duhem:

Baehr, Jason, ed. “Educating for Intellectual Humility.” In Educating for Intellectual Virtues: Applying Virtue Epistemology to Educational Theory and Practice. Routledge, forthcoming.