An Epistemology for Legal Ethics

1. An Epistemology for Legal Ethics Emanuel Tucsa, PhD Candidate 2018 Osgoode Hall Law School The Need for Intellectually Virtuous Lawyers

2. Virtue Epistemology • An approach to the study of knowledge that takes its inspiration from Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics. • Rather than evaluating the beliefs of people on the basis of whether they meet an abstract standard (such as whether a person has justified true belief), virtue epistemology looks for a person’s practice of intellectual virtues. • The idea is that a person’s position in acquiring and promoting knowledge is served by action in accordance with epistemic virtues such as conscientiousness, circumspection, and honesty. A person’s position is weakened by action in accordance with epistemic vices such as intellectual laziness, gullibility, and dishonesty.

3. Self-Regarding Virtues • Jason Kawall’s definition of self-regarding virtues: “[V]irtues which tend to directly benefit oneself ”. These virtues “guide and assist us in achieving our own personal flourishing and well-being”. • Examples of self-regarding intellectual virtues: • Circumspection • Conscientiousness • Imaginativeness • Intellectual Courage • Perceptiveness

4. Other-Regarding Virtues • Kawall’s definition of other-regarding virtues: “[V]irtues which tend to directly benefit others”. According to Kawall, “These virtues do not aim primarily at promoting the flourishing of the agent who abides by them, but rather tend to help others in the agent’s moral community (and the community as a whole) to flourish”. • Examples of other-regarding intellectual virtues: • Attentiveness (the skills of a good listener) • Intellectual Charity (taking an attitude of respect and goodwill towards one’s interlocutors) • Intellectual Honesty • Intellectual Humility