Theepistemic virtues, as identified byvirtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process, and thus susceptible to intellectualvirtue orvice. Some epistemic virtues have been identified by W. Jay Wood, based on research into themedieval tradition. Epistemic virtues are sometimes also called intellectual virtues.[1]
The foundation forepistemic virtues isepistemology, the theory of what we know to be true according to our own perception in relation to reality.Philosophers are interested in how themind relates to reality and the overall nature of knowledge.[2]Epistemology battles withskepticism by trying to come up with a base from which allknowledge andscience 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.[3]
Virtues in general are characteristic habits or ways of relating to the world that exhibit or promote human flourishing.[4] 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,[1] and so remaining ignorant can arguably be the better option.
Being an epistemically virtuous person is often equated with being acritical 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.[5][6]
Epistemic virtues includeconscientiousness[7] as well as the following:[6]
These can be contrasted to theepistemic vices such as:
Note that, in the vice context,curiosity bears the medieval connotation of attraction to unwholesome things, in contrast to the positivestudious (or perhapsinquisitive).
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