ABSTRACT
A popular view in contemporary Anglophone epistemology is that knowledge is true belief produced by intellectual virtue. Philosophers accepting this are often called “virtue epistemologists.” Virtue epistemologists differ on how to characterize an intellectual virtue. Some theorists focus on refined intellectual character traits, such as open-mindedness or conscientiousness, which the agent cultivates over time through deliberate effort (Code 1987; Montmarquet 1993; Zagzebski 1996). On this approach, knowledge is defined as true belief produced by a refined intellectual character trait. Other theorists include reliable cognitive faculties, such as excellent vision or memory, among the intellectual virtues (Sosa 1991; Greco 1993; Goldman 1993). On this approach, knowledge is defined as true belief produced by the agent’s reliable character traits or reliable cognitive faculties. Here “reliable” means that the trait or faculty produces mostly true beliefs.
