Inquiry and Agency A Theory of Intellectual Virtues and Vices

In Inquiry and Agency, Jason Baehr develops a systematic account of the nature, structure, and evaluative status of intellectual virtues and vices. Drawing on a theory of moral virtue by Robert Adams (2006), Baehr argues that intellectual virtues like curiosity, open-mindedness, and intellectual courage are ways of "excellently being for epistemic goods" that reflect favorably on who we are as persons, and that intellectual vices like dogmatism, narrow-mindedness, and intellectual arrogance are ways of falling short of this standard that contribute negatively to our personal worth. Inquiry and Agency is the most in-depth and systematic treatment of intellectual virtues and vices since Linda Zagzebski's pioneering work Virtues of the Mind (1996). While advancing several debates in virtue epistemology, it proposes a model of intellectual virtues and vices that will be accessible to non-experts and useful to researchers in other disciplines. Inquiry and Agency is the product of decades of reflection by a leading virtue epistemologist. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the characterological dimensions of the life of the mind.

1 - Intellectual Character: Virtues and Vices
2 - The Structure of Intellectual Virtues
3 - The Value of Intellectual Virtues
4 - Theoretical Wisdom
5 - Practical Wisdom
6 - Intellectual Vices

Jason Baehr is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he has been teaching for over 20 years. Baehr is a leading expert in both theoretical and applied virtue epistemology. His book The Inquiring Mind (OUP, 2011) is one of the most cited works in the field.