Virtues of the Mind

"Zagzebski's book brims with acute observations and is written in such a way that even those not trained in analytic philosophy will find it an enjoyable read. Her focus on the virtues leads her to avoid a style of philosphy that endlessly h=generates counterexamples and engages in barren possible-worlds speculation. Zagzebski brings the resources of premodern philosophy to bear on contemporary issues and opens up a line of inquiry that could prove as fruitful for epistemology as it already has for ethics. Throughout the book, she notes that this is a large project and invites the assistance of others. It is an invitation Thomists would do well to accept." Thomas S. Hibbs, The Thomist

• Part I. The Methodology of Epistemology: 1. Using moral theory in epistemology; 2. Difficulties in contemporary epistemology; 3. More reasons to try a virtue approach: the relations between believing and feeling; 4. An objection to modeling evaluation in epistemology on ethics: the dispute over the voluntariness of belief; 5. Conclusion to Part 1: why center epistemology on the virtues; Part II. A Theory of Virtue and Vice: 1. Types of virtue theories; 2. The nature of a virtue; 3. Intellectual and moral virtue; 4. The two components of intellectual virtue; 5. The importance of phronesis; 6. The definition of deontic concepts; 7. Conclusion to Part 2: the scope of the moral; Part III. The Nature of Knowledge: 1. Knowledge and the ethics of belief; 2. Defining knowledge; 3. Gettier problems; 4. Reliabilism; 5. Plantinga's theory of proper function; 6. Harmonizing internal and external aspects of knowing; 7. Conclusion to Part 3: ethics, epistemology, and psychology; Bibliography; Index.