Epistemic virtue
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The epistemic virtues, as identified by virtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process, and thus susceptible to the intellectual virtue or vice of one's own life and personal experiences. Some epistemic virtues have been identified by W. Jay Wood, based on research into the medieval tradition. Virtues are generally defined by good moral character and epistemic virtues are otherwise defined as intellectual virtues.
Overview
Being an epistemically virtuous person is often equated with being a critical thinker and focuses on the human agent and the kind of practices that make it possible to arrive at the best accessible approximation of the truth.
Epistemic virtues include conscientiousness
- attentiveness
- benevolence (principle of charity)
- creativity
- curiosity (see below)
- discernment
- honesty
- humility
- objectivity
- parsimony
- studiousness
- understanding
- warranty
- wisdom
These can be contrasted to the epistemic vices such as:
- closed-mindedness
- curiosity (see below)
- dogmatism
- epistemic blindness
- folly
- gullibility
- intellectual dishonesty
- obtuseness
- self-deception
- superficiality of thought
- superstition
- willful naïveté
- wishful thinking
Note that, in this context, curiosity bears the medieval connotation of attraction to unwholesome things, in contrast to the positive studious (or perhaps inquisitive).
See also
