Virtue Perspectivism: A Response to Foley and Fumerton

Abstract

I am grateful to both Richards, Foley and Fumerton, for the time and attention that they have given to my work. I have certainly learned from their excellent comments, just as I expected. Given the constraints, however, I must be selective in my response. First of all, I will aim to present my view of human knowledge in a broader context. Against this background I will then respond to several of the points they have made. The view I defend involves two main elements: the concept of an intellectual virtue, and the concept of an epistemic perspective. Roughly, a cognitive faculty or intellectual virtue is a competence to distinguish the true from the false in some field of propositions F when in certain circumstances C. Animal knowledge requires only that the belief reflect the impact of its subject matter through the