ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature and value of intellectual perseverance, specifically intellectually virtuous perseverance (IVP). It analyzes a concept of IVP—namely, a responsibilist concept that centers on the agent's motives, beliefs, emotions, and consequent behavior. Intellectually virtuous perseverance is often needed for an epistemic agent to acquire the prerequisites for some specific inquiry. As with other acts and exercises of IVP, cases of type-(1) can involve different kinds of obstacles. The monastery at Skellig Michael—a rock island eight miles off the Irish coast—was regularly accosted by Viking raiders (Cahill 1995). In the face of danger and drudgery, the monks displayed an admirable love of knowledge— a love that expressed itself as intellectually virtuous perseverance. IVP is one among many character virtues, where these include moral virtues, theological virtues, and intellectual virtues. The boundaries between these categories are disputed.
