A. Virtue Epistemology > Stephen Napier's Virtue Epistemology: Motivation & Knowledge, out from Contiuum Studies in Philosophy
A draft of my review of JBer Stephen Napier's fine recent development of responsibilist VE (for NDRP) is available in JB Library.
The credit theory, anti-luck issues, the 'because of virtue' claim and many more ideas we've discussed here are admirably handled by Napier in this book from Continuum (2008). Still only in hardcover, you might check to see if your libraries don't have it.
The credit theory, anti-luck issues, the 'because of virtue' claim and many more ideas we've discussed here are admirably handled by Napier in this book from Continuum (2008). Still only in hardcover, you might check to see if your libraries don't have it.
June 29, 2009 |
Guy Axtell

Synopsis
Combining conceptual analysis with well established empirical evidence, this is an important new book in analytical epistemology.
Description
Contemporary epistemology debates have largely been occupied with formulating a definition of knowledge that is immune to any counterexample. To date, no definition has been able to escape unscathed.
Moving away from debates about definitions, Virtue Epistemology shows what conditions are essential for knowledge and applies this account to different domains. It proposes that agents must be motivated correctly to acquire knowledge, even in the case of perception.
Stephen Napier examines closely the empirical research in cognitive science and moral psychology to build an account of knowledge wherein an agent must perform acts of virtue in order to get knowledge. In so doing, Napier provides answers to two key questions: 'what is knowledge?' and 'how do we get it?’
Table Of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Competing Conceptions of a Cognitive Virtue
3. A Virtue Account of Perception
4. A Virtue Account of Memory
5. Testimony and Cognitive Virtue
6. Moral Expertise: The Role of Cognitive Virtue in Generating Knowledge
7. Cognitive Virtue, Divine Hiddenness and Reasonable Belief or Non-Belief.
8. Conclusion
Bibliography