Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Epistemic virtue
Summary
The epistemic virtues, as identified by virtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process, and thus susceptible to intellectual virtue or vice. Some epistemic virtues have been identified by W. Jay Wood, based on research into the medieval tradition. Epistemic virtues are sometimes also called intellectual virtues.
The foundation for epistemic virtues is epistemology, the theory of what we know to be true according to our own perception in relation to reality. Philosophers are interested in how the mind relates to reality and the overall nature of knowledge. Epistemology battles with skepticism by trying to come up with a base from which all knowledge and science can be built up. Skepticism promotes an impasse to this because we must doubt what we know in order to know if what we know is indeed true.
Virtues in general are characteristic habits or ways of relating to the world that exhibit or promote human flourishing. Epistemic virtues are those characteristic habits that promote the acquisition of and utilization of true knowledge.
There is potential tension between these two concepts because learning the truth can sometimes make a person worse off, and so remaining ignorant can be the better option. An example of this would be a person being better off not knowing that their significant other is being unfaithful; some people would prefer to live in the lie because it would affect them less.
Epistemic virtue is a system of systems of dispositions. An epistemically virtuous person is someone who is determined to find out what's true without or be swayed by self-interest or feelings.
The epistemically virtuous person is more concerned with searching for the truth without being swayed by self-interest or . By contrast, a person more concerned with pleasure would rather let some truths go unnoticed in the hopes of deceiving themselves for the sake of maintaining relationships and to repress unpleasant feelings.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.