Introduction

A defining feature of the vices of the mind is that they make us bad thinkers, insofar as they prevent us from acquiring and sharing knowledge, express bad motives and desires, or interfere with our individual and collective epistemic functioning, in all sorts of ways. Some are irksome, others are dangerous. The discipline of vice epistemology can be thought of as starting from these very general thoughts. The systematic study of epistemic failings and vices is nothing new since there have been implicit and explicit studies of epistemic failings in several of the world’s philosophical traditions. Such investigations are not always articulated in the terms of contemporary vice epistemology, of course, since not all cultures recognize the distinction between ethical and epistemic vices. In ancient Greece, Aristotle is known to have introduced the distinct category of epistemic virtues, though it is worth exploring whether he had a corresponding notion of epistemic vices.