2011/09/20 by Kotzee, Hendrik, Ben Kotzee · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Education and Critical Thinking Development #Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics #Ethics in medical practice #Political Philosophy and Ethics #Religious Education and Schools
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1741-5446.2011.00420.x
openalex publication_date 2011/09/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
In this essay Ben Kotzee addresses the implications of Bernard Williams's distinction between “thick” and “thin” concepts in ethics for epistemology and for education. Kotzee holds that, as in the case of ethics, one may distinguish between “thick” and “thin” concepts of epistemology and, further, that this distinction points to the importance of the study of the intellectual virtues in epistemology. Following Harvey Siegel, Kotzee contends that “educated” is a thick epistemic concept, and he explores the consequences of this for the subjects of epistemology and philosophy of education. Ultimately, Kotzee argues that its nature as a “thick” concept makes education suited to play an important role in explaining how the intellectual virtues can be acquired.