Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative EpistemologyOut of the ferment of recent debates about the intellectual virtues, Roberts and Wood have developed an approach they call 'regulative epistemology'. This is partly a return to classical and medieval traditions, partly in the spirit of Locke's and Descartes's concern for intellectual formation, partly an exploration of connections between epistemology and ethics, and partly an approach that has never been tried before. Standing on the shoulders of recent epistemologists - including William Alston, Alvin Plantinga, Ernest Sosa, and Linda Zagzebski - Roberts and Wood pursue epistemological questions by looking closely and deeply at particular traits of intellectual character such as love of knowledge, intellectual autonomy, intellectual generosity, and intellectual humility. Central to their vision is an account of intellectual goods that includes not just knowledge as properly grounded belief, but understanding and personal acquaintance, acquired and shared through the many social practices of actual intellectual life. This approach to intellectual virtue infuses the discipline of epistemology with new life, and makes it interesting to people outside the circle of professional epistemologists. It is epistemology for the whole intellectual community, as Roberts and Wood carefully sketch the ways in which virtues that would have been categorized earlier as moral make for agents who can better acquire, refine, and communicate important kinds of knowledge. |
Contents
Goods | |
Virtues | |
Faculties | |
Practices | |
Intellectual Virtues | ii |
Love of Knowledge | iii |
Firmness | xlvii |
Courage and Caution | xciii |
Humility | cxxiii |
Autonomy | ccxl |
Generosity | ccxliv |
| cclxvi | |
Other editions - View all
Intellectual Virtues: An Essay in Regulative Epistemology Robert C. Roberts,W. Jay Wood No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
ability acquaintance action Alvin Plantinga Aristotle arrogance attitude authority behavior caution Chapter character charity chimpanzees Christian cognitive coherence concept concern context critical definition of knowledge Derridean Descartes desire discussion disposition dogmatism emotions entitlement epistemic agent epistemic faculties epistemic virtue Ethics eudaimonia Euthyphro example excellent exemplify fear firmness generosity Gettier Goodall hetero-regulator important intellectual autonomy intellectual courage intellectual practices intellectual virtues interest internalist intrinsic John Locke justification kind of knowledge less Linda Zagzebski logocentric love of knowledge mature mind moral motivation Nicomachean Ethics noetic structure one’s oneself particular perception person philosophers Plantinga practical wisdom proper functioning propositional knowledge question reader reading reason relevant Richard Rorty scientific scientists seems self-knowledge sense situation skills social Socrates teacher testimony theory things Thomas Kuhn traits true belief truth understanding University Press vanity vice virtue epistemology virtuous William Alston Zagzebski