The moral virtue of open-mindedness

Open-Mindedness as a Critical Virtue

This paper proposes to examine Daniel Cohen’s recent attempt to apply virtues to argumentation theory, with special attention given to his explication of how open-mindedness can be regarded as an argumentational or critical virtue. It is argued that his analysis involves a contentious claim about open-mindedness as an epistemic virtue, which generates a tension for agents who are simultaneously...

Running head: VIRTUE ETHICS AND MORAL IDENTITY Exploring the Relationship between Virtue Ethics and Moral Identity

The concept of moral identity based on virtue ethics has become an issue of considerable import in explaining moral behavior. This attempt to offer adequate explanations of the full range of morally relevant human behavior inevitably provokes boundary issues between ethics and moral psychology. In terms of the relationship between the two disciplines, some argue for “naturalized (or psychologiz...

On Hope as a Moral Virtue

Against Moral Character Evaluations: the Undetectability of Virtue and Vice

I defend the epistemic thesis that evaluations of people in terms of their moral character as good, bad, or intermediate are almost always epistemically unjustified. (1) Because most people are fragmented (they would behave deplorably in many and admirably in many other situations), one’s prior probability that any given person is fragmented should be high. (2) Because one’s information about s...

The Open-Mindedness of the Counterattitudinal Role Playerl

Subjects first expressed their own position on whether college education should be general (liberal arts) or specialized (career preparatory), then were led to expect that they would write essays supporting one or the other of these positions, Ilext judged the validity of a standard set of statements representing both views, and last again expressed their opinions on the issue. Validity judgmen...