ABSTRACT
In this chapter I develop and motivate an account of epistemic autonomy as an intellectual character virtue. In Section 9.2, I clarify the concept of an intellectual virtue and character intellectual virtues in particular. In Section 9.3, I clear away some misconceptions about epistemic autonomy to better focus on our target. In Section 9.4, I examine and evaluate several extant accounts of the virtue of epistemic autonomy, noting problems with each. In Section 9.5, I provide my positive account of the virtue of epistemic autonomy and explain how it meets the desiderata for such an account while avoiding the problems with extant accounts. Finally, in Section 9.6, I fill the account out by digging into the factors that guide epistemically autonomous agents in having an appropriate reliance on their own thinking.
