ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will focus on two conceptions of skill that are the most relevant to virtue epistemology. First, we have skills as abilities. Abilities are dispositions that allow a person to succeed reliably in achieving a particular aim. The aim of an ability makes it distinct from other abilities, marked linguistically by saying it is an ability to do a particular thing. The ability conception of skill focuses on the output of a person’s dispositions without being committed to those dispositions having a specific underlying structure. Two people who can achieve the same aim in different ways will be counted as having the same ability; the person who types and the person who writes by hand both demonstrate the ability to write a letter.
