Providence, Virtue and The Nozick Machines

(Originally Written November 11, 2006 in Epistemology)

3 views on providence:

1. Augustinianism - God predestined everything
2. Molinism (Middle Knowledge) - God created the best world out of all the possible ones
3. Simple foreknowledge - God created the world, but didn't ordain everything

Zagzebski:

Virtue - good in the possessor and more

The Acquisition of Virtue

-Virtues must be acquired
-Virtues are not skills
-Skills can be possessed without being practiced, but virtues cannot
-Some skills are not worth having whereas all virtues are always worth having
-Skills involve mastering of techniques, no technique needs to be mastered for a virtue
-A person can forget a skill, but not a virtue
-It is possible for someone to act in a consistent way with a virtue without possessing it, but this is not possible with any skill
-Virtues have a contrary or contraries. There is no anti-skill.
-A virtue is intrinsically valuable, whereas a skill has value(s) in the utility

Intellectual Virtues vs. Intellectual skills:

Virtues
-Attention to detail
-Open mindedness
-Adaptability
-Insight
-Intellectual humility

Skills
-Logical skills
-Fact-finding skills
-Mechanical skills
-Spatial reasoning skills
-Mathematical skills
-Verbal skills

Virtues & vices are habituated

Nozick's Thought Experiment

-Experience machine
-Transformation Machine
-Results Machine