Linda T. Zagaebski

Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski

This remarkable book is the first attempt to establish a theory of knowledge based on the model of virtue theory in ethics.

An Inquiry Into the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundations of Knowledge

Virtues of the Mind

"In The Two Greatest Ideas, Linda Zagzebski tells the history of two hugely impactful ideas and their crucial role in shaping human culture over the last two thousand years. These ideas, Zagzebski argues, underlie virtually all of the intellectual innovations of human civilization, yet are so simple they are almost invisible. The first idea is that the human mind is capable of grasping the universe. The second is that the human mind is capable of grasping itself. Based on a series of lectures given in 2018 at Soochow University, Zagzebski offers an ambitious, big-history narrative of the emergence and influence of these two ideas and the tension and conflict between them. The idea that the human mind can grasp the universe had a significant influence on culture in many parts of the world in the first millennium BCE, giving rise to physics, mathematics, philosophy, and most major religions. In the early modern period, however, particularly in the West, the idea that the human mind can grasp itself supplanted some of the wider focus and popularity of the idea that human mind can grasp the universe, revealing something important was missing, namely, the subjectivity of minds. This transformation was reflected in radical changes in philosophy, political thought, art, literature, religion, and science. In this book, Zagzebski provides a new frame for understanding the intellectual underpinnings of Western culture and thought through an illuminating exploration of the history and contemporary legacy of these two great ideas (including reflections on their history in Eastern thought). Zagzebski also reveals the deep roots of some familiar divisions in contemporary culture (e.g. autonomy versus harmony, and rights versus responsibilities) as they relate to the great ideas. The book then concludes with a discussion of what reconciling the two great ideas might entail, including the possibility of a third great idea"--

How Our Grasp of the Universe and Our Minds Changed Everything

The Two Greatest Ideas

Gives an extended argument for epistemic authority from the implications of reflective self-consciousness. Epistemic authority is compatible with autonomy, but epistemic self-reliance is incoherent. The book argues that epistemic and emotional self-trust are rational and inescapable, that consistent self-trust commits us to trust in others, and that among those we are committed to trusting are some whom we ought to treat as epistemic authorities, modelled on the well-known principles of authority of Joseph Raz. Some of these authorities can be in the moral and religious domains. The book investigates the way the problem of disagreement between communities or between the self and others is a conflict within self-trust, and argue against communal self-reliance on the same grounds as the book uses in arguing against individual self-reliance. The book explains how any change in belief is justified--by the conscientious judgment that the change will survive future conscientious self-reflection. The book concludes with an account of autonomy. --Publisher's description.

A Theory of Trust, Authority, and Autonomy in Belief

Epistemic Authority

Gives an extended argument for epistemic authority from the implications of reflective self-consciousness. Epistemic authority is compatible with autonomy, but epistemic self-reliance is incoherent. The book argues that epistemic and emotional self-trust are rational and inescapable, that consistent self-trust commits us to trust in others, and that among those we are committed to trusting are some whom we ought to treat as epistemic authorities, modelled on the well-known principles of authority of Joseph Raz. Some of these authorities can be in the moral and religious domains. The book investigates the way the problem of disagreement between communities or between the self and others is a conflict within self-trust, and argue against communal self-reliance on the same grounds as the book uses in arguing against individual self-reliance. The book explains how any change in belief is justified--by the conscientious judgment that the change will survive future conscientious self-reflection. The book concludes with an account of autonomy. -- Información de la editorial.

Two simple yet tremendously powerful ideas that shaped virtually every aspect of civilization This book is a breathtaking examination of the two greatest ideas in human history. The first is the idea that the human mind can grasp the universe. The second is the idea that the human mind can grasp itself. Acclaimed philosopher Linda Zagzebski shows how the first unleashed a cultural awakening that swept across the world in the first millennium BCE, giving birth to philosophy, mathematics, science, and virtually all the major world religions. It dominated until the Renaissance, when the discovery of subjectivity profoundly transformed the arts and sciences. This second great idea governed our perception of reality up until the dawn of the twenty-first century. Zagzebski explores how the interplay of the two ideas led to conflicts that have left us ambivalent about the relationship between the mind and the universe, and have given rise to a host of moral and political rifts over the deepest questions human beings face. Should we organize civil society around the ideal of living in harmony with the world or that of individual autonomy? Zagzebski explains how the two greatest ideas continue to divide us today over issues such as abortion, the environment, free speech, and racial and gender identity. This panoramic book reveals what is missing in our conception of ourselves and the world, and imagines a not-too-distant future when a third great idea, the idea that human minds can grasp each other, will help us gain an idea of the whole of reality.

This original analysis examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will--those arising from Boethius, from Ockham, and from Molina. Though all three solutions are rejected in their best-known forms, three new solutions are proposed, and Zagzebski concludes that divine foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom. The discussion includes the relation between the foreknowledge dilemma and problems about the nature of time and the causal relation; the logic of counterfactual conditionals; and the differences between divine and human knowing states. An appendix introduces a new foreknowledge dilemma that purports to show that omniscient foreknowledge conflicts with deep intuitions about temporal asymmetry, quite apart from considerations of free will. Zagzebski shows that only a narrow range of solutions can handle this new dilemma. A compelling contribution to the field, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge will appeal to students and scholars of theistic philosophy and the philosophy of religion.

The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge

"This book collects 20 papers in epistemology by Linda Zagzebski, covering her entire career of more than 25 years. She is one of the founders of contemporary epistemology and is well-known for broadening the field and re-focusing it on epistemic virtue and epistemic value. The subject areas of most of epistemology are included in these papers: (1) knowledge and understanding, (2) intellectual virtue, (3) epistemic value, (4) virtue in religious epistemology, (5) intellectual autonomy and authority, and (6) skepticism and the Gettier problem"--

Collected Papers in Epistemology

Epistemic Values

Linda Zagzebski

Abrol Fairweather

Virtue epistemology is an exciting, new movement receiving an enormous amount of attention from top epistemologists and ethicists; this pioneering volume reflects the best work in that vein. Featuring superb writing from contemporary American philosophers, it includes thirteen never before published essays that focus on the place of the concept of virtue in epistemology. In recent years, philosophers have been debating how this concept functions in definitions of knowledge. They question the extent to which knowledge is both normative (i.e., with a moral component) and non-normative, and many of them dispute the focus on justification, which has proven to be too restrictive. Epistemologists are searching for a way to combine the traditional concepts of ethical theory with epistemic concepts; the result is a new approach called virtue epistemology--one that has established itself as a particularly favorable alternative. Containing the fruits of recent study on virtue epistemology, this volume offers a superb selection of contributors--including Robert Audi, Simon Blackburn, Richard Foley, Alvin Goldman, Hilary Kornblith, Keith Lehrer, Ernest Sosa, and Linda Zagzebski--whose work brings epistemology into dialogue with everyday issues.

Essays on Epistemic Virtue and Responsibility

Virtue Epistemology

In Exemplarist Moral Theory of Linda Zagzebski presents an original moral theory based on direct reference to exemplars of goodness, whom we identify through the emotion of admiration. Using examples of heroes, saints, and sages, she shows how narratives of exemplars and empirical work on the most admirable persons can be incorporated into the theory to serve both theoretical and practical purposes.

Exemplarist Moral Theory

Written with verve and clarity by a leading philosopher and contributor, this text is an accessible overview of a vibrant field, which invites readers to think through the issues in the philosophy of religion themselves.

Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski

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