Epistemology of virtue, recursion to the past and mutation towards the future

Subject Areas : Epistemological researches

Jalal  Peykani ¹ (دانشیار گروه فلسفه دانشگاه پیام نور)
Mohamad  masoudi nia ² (مربی دانشکده الهیات دانشگاه پیام نور)

Received: 2015-04-11 Accepted : 2015-05-23 Published : 2015-09-23

Keywords: epistemology of virtue, Ernest Susa, Linda Zagzebski, intellectual values, belief merit,

Abstract :

Contemporary epistemology has been influenced by scientism which dominates the analytical philosophy during twentieth century, and considered the knowledge by pure mechanical approach leading to remove non-cognitional aspects from contemporary epistemology. Accordingly, it comes to the kind of depression in the contemporary epistemology. Recently, new approach has grown within that epistemology which cannot stand the dominated process and by inspiring the earlier epistemologists, cannot take the role of non-cognitive psychological agents into consideration in the subjectiveness acquiring the knowledge. Ernest Susa and Linda Zagzebski are two outstanding figures belong to the epistemology of virtue. They introduce the episteme as a result of correct function of faculties in the subject that all of them are not directly the epistemological faculties in their own general senses. Therefore, they look for the condition of episteme not in the belief, but in the subject and cognitive agent. This article, in addition to concentrate on the insisting of epistemology of virtue on the role of non-cognitional agents in obtaining the episteme, has shown that this factor can open the new approach in contemporary epistemology and take it out of the current recession.

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