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The Structure of Open-Mindedness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Jason Baehr
Jason Baehr*
Affiliation:
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA90045, USA
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Extract

Open-mindedness enjoys widespread recognition as an intellectual virtue. This is evident, among other ways, in its appearance on nearly every list of intellectual virtues in the virtue epistemology literature. Despite its popularity, however, it is far from clear what exactly openmindedness amounts to: that is, what sort of intellectual orientation or activity is essential to it. In fact, there are ways of thinking about open-mindedness that cast serious doubt on its status as an intellectual virtue.

Consider the following description, from Robert Roberts and Jay Wood (2007), of a ‘bright college freshman, taking an introductory course in philosophy.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 191 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2011

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