Virtues of the Mind - 1-1.1

(Originally written November 20, 2006 in Book 8)

Virtues of the Mind
Linda Zagzebski

1. Using Moral Theory in Epistemology

The relationship between ethics and normative epistemology is close and uneasy.

Christopher Hookway argued that epistemic evaluations ought to focus on the activity of inquiry, rather than beliefs.

The ambivalence about responsibility for having knowledge or justified belief is exemplified in the internalist/externalist debate.

Both externalists/internalists hold that knowledge and justified beliefs are cognitive goods, but what type of good is not always clear.

Externalists see the good of these cognitive states as analogous with eyesight, hearing, intelligence or musical talent. Thus, a large amount of knowledge and justified belief can be praised, but a deficiency of them is not blamed, nor a normal amount of these cognitive states is praised.

Internalists view these cognitive states as goods analogous to acts, motives and persons. Thus, they are good and bad and can be blamed or praised.

When we criticize beliefs we do so most often from a moral base. Thus, epistemic criticizing is similar to moral criticizing.

"She should have known better" and similar statements are obviously moral critiques of epistemological errors.

Zagzebski claims that epistemic evaluation is a form of moral evaluation.

1.1 Contemporary epistemic theories and their ethical models

Epistemologists assume that the normative concepts of interest to their inquiry are properties of beliefs.

Belief has two senses:
1. Properties of the psychological states of believing
2. Properties of the propositional objects of the properties of the psychological states of believing

The epistemic concept of converting a justified belief into knowledge is analogous to making a right act.

The moral philosopher sees the right act as the basis of his/her inquiry and the epistemologist sees the justified belief as the basis for his/her inquiry.

"The ultimate task of a theory of knowledge is to answer the question, 'What is knowledge?' But to do this it is first necessary to answer the question, 'Under what conditions is a belief warranted?'" - Roderick Firth (Zagzebski, 7).

Contemporary epistemology is belief-based. All belief-based epistemology is based on the moral concept of act-based theory.

Act-based moral theory is either:
1) Deontological
2) Consequentialist

Epistemologists refine their questions into one of two types
1) Does the belief violate any epistemic rules or epistemic duties? (Deontological base)
2) Was the belief formed by a reliable process for obtaining the truth? (Consequentialist base)

Was the belief formed by a reliable process for obtaining the truth is the reliabilist approach.

The epistemic goal of reliabilism is to bring true beliefs and avoid false beliefs.

Reliabilism (like consequentialism) understands the good quantitatively.

"Whereas the Utilitarian aims to maximize the balance of pleasure over pain, the reliabilist aims to maximize the balance of true over false beliefs" (Zagzebski, 8).