Review of Michael DePaul & Linda Zagzebski, Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology

This volume brings together several prominent philosophers from ethics and epistemology to discuss the interesting but historically underemphasized topic of intellectual virtue. Most of the discussion is set against the backdrop of virtue epistemology, a recent movement that gives the notion of intellectual virtue a central role in epistemological theorizing. The essays address a wide and rich range of issues, most of which revolve around three central themes: (i) connections between virtue ethics and virtue epistemology; (ii) the relation between virtue epistemology and traditional epistemological questions; and (iii) the so-called ‘value problem’ in epistemology (which is concerned with what makes knowledge more valuable than mere true belief). This review focuses on (i) and (ii).