Vice Epistemology

Description

Some of the most problematic human behaviors involve vices of the mind such as arrogance, closed-mindedness, dogmatism, gullibility, and intellectual cowardice, as well as wishful or conspiratorial thinking. What sorts of things are epistemic vices? How do we detect and mitigate them? How and why do these vices prevent us from acquiring knowledge, and what is their role in sustaining patterns of ignorance? What is their relation to implicit or unconscious bias? How do epistemic vices and systems of social oppression relate to one another? Do we unwittingly absorb such traits from the process of socialization and communities around us? Are epistemic vices traits for which we can blamed? Can there be institutional and collective epistemic vices? This book seeks to answer these important questions about the vices of the mind and their roles in our social and epistemic lives, and is the first collection of its kind. Organized into three parts, chapters by outstanding scholars explore the nature of epistemic vices, specific examples of these vices, and case studies in applied vice epistemology, including education and politics. Alongside these foundational questions, the volume offers sophisticated accounts of vices both new and familiar. These include epistemic arrogance and servility, epistemic injustice, epistemic snobbishness, conspiratorial thinking, procrastination, and forms of closed-mindedness. Vice Epistemology is essential reading for students of ethics, epistemology, and virtue theory, and various areas of applied, feminist, and social philosophy. It will also be of interest to practitioners, scholars, and activists in politics, law, and education. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Epigraph Dedication Table of Contents Notes on contributors Acknowledgments Introduction: From epistemic vices to vice epistemology The historical study of epistemic vices: a brief tour The contemporary development of vice epistemology: a brief tour Key themes in contemporary vice epistemology Summary of chapters Open questions Notes References Part I Foundational issues Chapter 1 The structure of intellectual vices 1.1 The structure of intellectual virtues 1.2 The structure of intellectual vices 1.3 Motivationalism 1.4 Conclusion Notes References Chapter 2 The metaphysical foundations of vice epistemology 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Notes References Chapter 3 Ignorance, arrogance, and privilege: Vice epistemology and the epistemology of ignorance 3.1 Varieties of ignorance 3.2 Ignorance as a vicious sensibility 3.3 Ignorance and arrogance Notes References Chapter 4 Epistemic corruption and social oppression 4.1 Character and oppression 4.2 The concept of epistemic corruption 4.3 Presuppositions and predicaments 4.4 Epistemically corrupting conditions 4.5 Critical character epistemology 4.6 Conclusions Acknowledgements References Part II Collectives, institutions, and networks Chapter 5 Institutional epistemic vices: The case of inferential inertia 5.1 Ethos matters 5.2 Modelling ethos 5.3 Modelling institutional epistemic vice 5.4 The institutional vice of inferential inertia Notes References Chapter 6 Capital vices, institutional failures, and epistemic neglect in a county jail 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Falling into the abyss of epistemic corruption (I): corrupted testimonial sensibility 6.3 Falling into the abyss of epistemic corruption (II): epistemically corrupted institutions 6.4 Fighting capital epistemic vices: resisting and preventing deep epistemic corruption Notes References Chapter 7 Implicit bias and epistemic vice 7.1 What are implicit biases? 7.2 The prima facie case for implicit biases as intellectual vices 7.3 The challenges 7.4 The bias of crowds 7.5 Collective vice 7.6 Vice charging, individual and collective Notes References Chapter 8 Vectors of epistemic insecurity 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Toward vector-relativized modal epistemic standings 8.3 Epistemic security 8.4 Virtue and vice in social epistemic networks 8.5 Conclusion Notes References Part III Analyses of specific vices Chapter 9 Quitting, procrastinating, and slacking off 9.1 Intellectual perseverance 9.2 Quitting 9.3 Procrastinating 9.4 Slacking off 9.5 Some related traits Notes References Chapter 10 Epistemic insensitivity: An insidious and consequential vice 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Two types of virtue 10.3 Four breeds of insensitivity 10.4 On different manifestations 10.5 A spectrum of sensitivity 10.6 Objections 10.7 Conclusion Notes References Chapter 11 Intellectual snobs 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Snobbery as an intellectual vice 11.3 Intellectual status and intellectual merit 11.4 Snobbish motives 11.5 Snobbish sensibilities 11.6 Conclusion Notes References Part IV Applied vice epistemology Chapter 12 Teaching to the test: How schools discourage phronesis 12.1 Sarah and Wallace 12.2 Epistemic phronesis 12.3 Educating against phronesis 12.4 Future work Notes References Chapter 13 Vices of questioning in public discourse 13.1 What is bad questioning? 13.2 A taxonomy of bad questioning 13.3 Bad questioning in public discourse 13.4 Bad questioning and intellectual vice 13.5 Concluding thoughts Acknowledgements Notes References Index