Virtue epistemology
Encyclopedia
Virtue epistemology is a contemporary philosophical
approach to epistemology that stresses the importance of intellectual (epistemic) virtues. It combines the central tenets of virtue theory (also called “virtue ethics
”), with classical epistemological approaches.
Intellectual virtue has been a subject of philosophy since the works of Plato
and Aristotle
, but virtue epistemology is a development in the contemporary analytic
tradition. It is characterized by efforts to solve problems of special concern to modern epistemology, such as justification
and reliabilism
, by directing attention on the knower as agent in a manner similar to virtue ethics.
introduced the notion of an intellectual virtue into contemporary epistemological discussion in a 1980 paper “The Raft and the Pyramid”. Sosa argued that an appeal to intellectual virtue could resolve the conflict between foundationalists and coherentists over the structure of epistemic justification. Sosa sought to bridge the gap and create a unity between these two different epistemological theories.
Foundationalism
holds that beliefs are founded or based on other beliefs in a hierarchy, similar to the bricks in the structure of a pyramid. Coherentism
, on the other hand, uses the metaphor of a raft in which all beliefs are not tied down by foundations but instead are interconnected due to the logical relationships between each belief. Sosa found a flaw in each of these schools of epistemology.
Coherentism only allows for justification based on logical
relations between all the beliefs within a system of beliefs. However, because perceptual beliefs may not have many logical ties with other beliefs in the system, the coherentist account of knowledge can be said to be inadequate to accommodate the importance normally attributed to perceptual information. On the other hand, Sosa also found problems in the foundationalist approach to epistemology. Foundationalism arguably encounters a problem when attempting to describe how foundational beliefs relate to the sensory experiences that support them.
The ideas put forth in the area of virtue epistemology are consistent with some of the ideas present in contextualism
. Several areas of contextual epistemology attack the problem of knowledge from a very objective standpoint. Virtue epistemology attempts to simplify the analysis of knowledge by replacing certain abstractions involved in the pursuit of the highest level of knowledge with flexible and contextual instances. Specifically, it leaves room for cognitive relativism. This degree of reliability is not constant; it can change depending on the context. Under this view, a well-functioning intellectual faculty is a necessary condition for the formation of knowledge. This is quite different from other areas of epistemology because it takes the state of an individual's intellect into account. As a result of this, social context also has the ability to alter knowledge. Social contexts change over time, making it necessary for the beliefs and knowledge to change with it.
In addition, virtue epistemology, similar to virtue ethics, is based on the intellectual qualities in relation to the individual as opposed to the quality of the belief; virtue epistemology is person-based, rather than belief-based. Consequently, virtue ethics can also stress “epistemic responsibility,” that is, an individual is held responsible for the virtue of their knowledge-gathering faculties.
is garnered must be reliable. However, the stress of the reliability is not placed upon the mechanism of justification. Instead, the degree of reality-tracking ability determines how virtuous the individual's intellect is, and therefore how good one's knowledge is.
For Sosa, the more virtuous faculties are related to direct sensory perception and memory, and less virtuous capacities are ones related to beliefs derived from the primary memory or sense experience. Sosa has two criteria for having a belief to be warranted, or in his words, "fully apt." A belief must satisfy the first condition of being "meta-justified" in which the agent must have hit the truth as such. Furthermore, a belief must have been 'apt' in which the agent must have been displaying his virtuous capacities in claiming such a belief or hitting the truth as such. For example, a hunter must not only be able to hit his target, say a moose, with precision and accuracy, but the shot must have been one that the hunter should have taken.
For another figure in virtue epistemology, John Greco
, an epistemic virtue is given a much wider definition. His account enables the possibility for different people to have different subjective virtues. The only requirement is that the intellectual virtue inclines the believer towards the truth.
Some, such as Lorraine Code, think that intellectual virtues involve having the correct cognitive character and epistemic relation to the world rooted in a social context. She sees the acquisition of correct knowledge about the world as the primary “good,” and the end towards which our intellectual efforts should be oriented, with the desire for truth as the primary motivating factor for our epistemological virtues.
James Montmarquet's theory of intellectual virtue is similar to Code's, but specifically defines additional intellectual virtues in order to defuse the potential dogmatism or fanaticism that is compatible with Code's desire for truth. The primary virtue is conscientiousness, which focuses on the correct end of intellectual living. In order to obtain conscientiousness, it is important to maintain impartiality, sobriety, and courage.
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
has proposed a neo-Aristotelian model of virtue epistemology, emphasizing the role of phronesis as an archetectonic virtue unifying moral and intellectual virtues even more radically than Aristotle proposed, with each virtue possessing a motivation and an end.
offers another theory of knowledge closely related to virtue epistemology. According to him, knowledge is warranted if one's intellectual faculties are operating as they are designed to. That is, knowledge is valid if it is obtained through the correct operation of the faculties of the intellect which are designed to have an inherent ability, because they are designed that way, to capture and produce true beliefs.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
approach to epistemology that stresses the importance of intellectual (epistemic) virtues. It combines the central tenets of virtue theory (also called “virtue ethics
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules , consequentialism , or social context .The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are...
”), with classical epistemological approaches.
Intellectual virtue has been a subject of philosophy since the works of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, but virtue epistemology is a development in the contemporary analytic
Analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...
tradition. It is characterized by efforts to solve problems of special concern to modern epistemology, such as justification
Theory of justification
Theory of justification is a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs. Epistemologists are concerned with various epistemic features of belief, which include the ideas of justification, warrant, rationality, and probability...
and reliabilism
Reliabilism
Reliabilism, a category of theories in the philosophical discipline of epistemology, has been advanced both as a theory of knowledge and of justified belief...
, by directing attention on the knower as agent in a manner similar to virtue ethics.
The Raft and the Pyramid
The development of virtue epistemology was partly inspired by a recent renewal of interest in virtue concepts among moral philosophers. Ernest SosaErnest Sosa
Ernest Sosa is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. He is currently Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He has been at Rutgers full-time since January, 2007; previously, he had been at Brown University since 1964...
introduced the notion of an intellectual virtue into contemporary epistemological discussion in a 1980 paper “The Raft and the Pyramid”. Sosa argued that an appeal to intellectual virtue could resolve the conflict between foundationalists and coherentists over the structure of epistemic justification. Sosa sought to bridge the gap and create a unity between these two different epistemological theories.
Foundationalism
Foundationalism
Foundationalism is any theory in epistemology that holds that beliefs are justified based on what are called basic beliefs . This position is intended to resolve the infinite regress problem in epistemology...
holds that beliefs are founded or based on other beliefs in a hierarchy, similar to the bricks in the structure of a pyramid. Coherentism
Coherentism
There are two distinct types of coherentism. One refers to the coherence theory of truth. The other refers to the coherence theory of justification. The coherentist theory of justification characterizes epistemic justification as a property of a belief only if that belief is a member of a coherent...
, on the other hand, uses the metaphor of a raft in which all beliefs are not tied down by foundations but instead are interconnected due to the logical relationships between each belief. Sosa found a flaw in each of these schools of epistemology.
Coherentism only allows for justification based on logical
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
relations between all the beliefs within a system of beliefs. However, because perceptual beliefs may not have many logical ties with other beliefs in the system, the coherentist account of knowledge can be said to be inadequate to accommodate the importance normally attributed to perceptual information. On the other hand, Sosa also found problems in the foundationalist approach to epistemology. Foundationalism arguably encounters a problem when attempting to describe how foundational beliefs relate to the sensory experiences that support them.
Theory
Virtue epistemology replaces formulaic expressions for apprehending knowledge, such as “S knows that p”, by amending these formulas with virtue theory applied to intellect, where virtue then becomes the fulcrum for assessing potential candidates of “knowledge”. This substitution raises problems of its own, however. If the same level of uncertainty about the accuracy in creating a formula for testing knowledge equally applies to the authenticity of virtue then one cannot know if the target virtue is credible. Some virtue epistemologists use reliabilism as a basis for belief justification, stressing reliable functioning of the intellect.The ideas put forth in the area of virtue epistemology are consistent with some of the ideas present in contextualism
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
. Several areas of contextual epistemology attack the problem of knowledge from a very objective standpoint. Virtue epistemology attempts to simplify the analysis of knowledge by replacing certain abstractions involved in the pursuit of the highest level of knowledge with flexible and contextual instances. Specifically, it leaves room for cognitive relativism. This degree of reliability is not constant; it can change depending on the context. Under this view, a well-functioning intellectual faculty is a necessary condition for the formation of knowledge. This is quite different from other areas of epistemology because it takes the state of an individual's intellect into account. As a result of this, social context also has the ability to alter knowledge. Social contexts change over time, making it necessary for the beliefs and knowledge to change with it.
In addition, virtue epistemology, similar to virtue ethics, is based on the intellectual qualities in relation to the individual as opposed to the quality of the belief; virtue epistemology is person-based, rather than belief-based. Consequently, virtue ethics can also stress “epistemic responsibility,” that is, an individual is held responsible for the virtue of their knowledge-gathering faculties.
Varieties of virtue epistemology
There are two concurrent modes of thought in contemporary virtue epistemology, with one side favoring the reliabilist account, and one favoring a "responsibilist" account in which the epistemic obligations of the agent play a key role.Virtue reliabilism
The virtue reliabilist takes the approach that the process whereby truthTruth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
is garnered must be reliable. However, the stress of the reliability is not placed upon the mechanism of justification. Instead, the degree of reality-tracking ability determines how virtuous the individual's intellect is, and therefore how good one's knowledge is.
For Sosa, the more virtuous faculties are related to direct sensory perception and memory, and less virtuous capacities are ones related to beliefs derived from the primary memory or sense experience. Sosa has two criteria for having a belief to be warranted, or in his words, "fully apt." A belief must satisfy the first condition of being "meta-justified" in which the agent must have hit the truth as such. Furthermore, a belief must have been 'apt' in which the agent must have been displaying his virtuous capacities in claiming such a belief or hitting the truth as such. For example, a hunter must not only be able to hit his target, say a moose, with precision and accuracy, but the shot must have been one that the hunter should have taken.
For another figure in virtue epistemology, John Greco
John Greco (philosopher)
John Greco is an epistemologist and holds the Leonard and Elizabeth Eslick Chair in Philosophy at Saint Louis University.-Notes:...
, an epistemic virtue is given a much wider definition. His account enables the possibility for different people to have different subjective virtues. The only requirement is that the intellectual virtue inclines the believer towards the truth.
Virtue responsibilism
In virtue responsibilism, the emphasis is not on primary mechanisms such as perception and memory. Instead, certain intellectual traits are valued as more virtuous than others. These can be creativity, inquisitiveness, rational rigor, honesty, or a number of other possibilities. Generally, these theories are normative in nature. A few different approaches are taken.Some, such as Lorraine Code, think that intellectual virtues involve having the correct cognitive character and epistemic relation to the world rooted in a social context. She sees the acquisition of correct knowledge about the world as the primary “good,” and the end towards which our intellectual efforts should be oriented, with the desire for truth as the primary motivating factor for our epistemological virtues.
James Montmarquet's theory of intellectual virtue is similar to Code's, but specifically defines additional intellectual virtues in order to defuse the potential dogmatism or fanaticism that is compatible with Code's desire for truth. The primary virtue is conscientiousness, which focuses on the correct end of intellectual living. In order to obtain conscientiousness, it is important to maintain impartiality, sobriety, and courage.
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski is an American philosopher, and is Kingfisher College Chair of Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow....
has proposed a neo-Aristotelian model of virtue epistemology, emphasizing the role of phronesis as an archetectonic virtue unifying moral and intellectual virtues even more radically than Aristotle proposed, with each virtue possessing a motivation and an end.
Plantinga's theory of warrant
Alvin PlantingaAlvin Plantinga
Alvin Carl Plantinga is an American analytic philosopher and the emeritus John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics...
offers another theory of knowledge closely related to virtue epistemology. According to him, knowledge is warranted if one's intellectual faculties are operating as they are designed to. That is, knowledge is valid if it is obtained through the correct operation of the faculties of the intellect which are designed to have an inherent ability, because they are designed that way, to capture and produce true beliefs.
Potential advantages of virtue epistemology
Some varieties of virtue epistemology that contain normative elements, such as virtue responsibilism, can provide a unified framework of normativity and value. Others, such as Sosa's account, can circumvent Cartesian skepticism with the necessity of externalism interacting with internalism. In this same vein, and because of the inherent flexibility and social nature of some of types of virtue epistemology, social conditioning and influence can be understood within an epistemological framework and explored. This flexibility and connection between internal and external makes virtue epistemology more accessible.Selected bibliography
- Aquino, Frederick D. Communities of Informed Judgment: Newman’s Illative Sense and Accounts of Rationality. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004.
- _____. “Broadening Horizons: Constructing an Epistemology of Religious Belief.” Louvain Studies, forthcoming.
- _____. “Newman and Virtue Epistemology.” In Newman and Truth. Peeters/Eerdmans, forthcoming.
- _____. “Newman’s Idea of Practical Wisdom.” Forthcoming.
- Axtell, Guy, ed. Knowledge, Belief, and Character: Readings in Contemporary Virtue. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
- _____. “Epistemic Luck in Light of the Virtues.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. *Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 158-77. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Blackburn, Simon. “Reason, Virtue, and Knowledge.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 15-29. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Bonjour, Laurence, and Ernest Sosa. Epistemic Justification: Internalism vs. Externalism, Foundations vs. Virtues. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.
- Brady, Michael and Duncan Pritchard. “Moral and Epistemic Virtues.” In Moral and Epistemic Virtues, ed. Michael Brady and Duncan Pritchard, 1-12. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2003.
- Dalmiya, Vrinda. “Why Should a Knower Care?” Hypatia 17, no. 1 (2002): 34-52.
- Fairweather, Abrol. “Epistemic Motivation.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 63-81. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Goldman, Alvin I. “The Unity of the Epistemic Virtues.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 30-48. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Hibbs, Thomas S. “Aquinas, Virtue, and Recent Epistemology.” The Review of Metaphysics 52, no. 3 (1999): 573-594.
- Hookway, Christopher. “How to be a Virtue Epistemologist.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 183-202. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- Kawall, Jason. “Other-regarding Epistemic Virtues.” Ratio XV 3 (2002): 257-275.
- Lehrer, Keith. “The Virtue of Knowledge.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 200-213. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- McKinnon, Christine. “Knowing Cognitive Selves.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 227-254. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- Moros, Enrique R. and Richard J. Umbers. “Distinguishing Virtues from Faculties in Virtue Epistemology.” The Southern Journal of Philosophy XLII, (2004): 61-85.
- Riggs, Wayne D. “Understanding ‘Virtue’ and the Virtue of Understanding.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 203-226. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- Roberts, Robert C. and W. Jay Wood. “Humility and Epistemic Goods.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 257-279. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- Sosa, Ernest. “The Raft and the Pyramid: Coherence versus Foundations in the Theory of Knowledge.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 5, (1980): 3-25.
- _____. “For the Love of Truth?” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 49-62. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- _____. “The Place of Truth in Epistemology.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 155- 179. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- Wood, W. Jay. Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
- Zagzebski, Linda. Virtues of the Mind: An Inquiry into the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundations of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
- _____. “Must Knowers Be Agents?” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 142-157. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- _____. “The Search for the Source of Epistemic Good.” In Moral and Epistemic Virtues, ed. Michael Brady and Duncan Pritchard, 13-28. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2003.
- _____. “Intellectual Motivation and the Good of Truth.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 135-154. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- _____, and Abrol Fairweather. “Introduction.” In Virtue Epistemology: Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility, ed. Abrol Fairweather and Linda Zagzebski, 3-14. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- _____, and Michael DePaul. “Introduction.” In Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology, ed. Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, 1-12. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.