Entry requirements

82,5 credits in Philosophy (teaching subject or main field of study)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students are expected to be able to:

• account for how the notions of virtue and vice are used within epistemology
• distinguish intellectual from moral virtues and vices
• recognise the way in which these concepts emerge in Classical Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
• identify reliabilist and responsibilist strands of virtue epistemology
• argue for or against several individual epistemic virtues and vices, and discuss their relevance for inquiry, knowledge-acquisition, and communication.

Content

Knowledge is seldom something that we simply possess. Much of our intellectual effort goes towards processes of knowledge acquisition, such as inquiry. Inquiry is a goal-directed process aimed at settling a particular question. Inquiries can be conducted well and they can be conducted badly -- inquiries are subject to norms. What are those norms? Moreover, some people are good at inquiring and some people not, some are open-minded and intellectually humble, some are arrogant and dogmatic. What, exactly are these character traits and how should they be cultivated or avoided? The course starts from the ancient -- Platonic and Aristotelian -- insight that some of the virtues are primarily intellectual and hence useful in contexts that have to do with knowledge acquisition and inquiry. We will then proceed to contemporary theories of virtues that promote the acquisition of knowledge and vices that prevent such acquisition. The course covers both the so-called reliabilist and responsibilist variants of virtue epistemology, providing an overview of epistemology's normative strands.

Instruction

Lectures and seminars. Seminar meetings are interactive and students are expected to participate and contribute. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

A final take-home assignment of 2500 words and an oral assignment in connection with groupwork. The final grade will be based on a weighted assessment of the two assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.