ABSTRACT
This chapter attends to distinctive manifestations of the virtues of intellectual dependability when it is inquiring communities, rather than inquiring individuals, who are in the position of intellectual dependence. The virtues of intellectual dependability are relevant for these contexts of dependence just as they are for contexts in which it is inquiring individuals who are in a position of intellectual dependence. Yet the virtues are manifested in distinctive ways in these contexts, because the features of dependent communities of concern to the intellectually dependable person—their needs, views, interests, abilities, and dispositions—have a different ontology from comparable features of dependent individuals. Responding appropriately to the ontological form these features take in communities requires distinctive skills and concerns. This chapter illustrates how the manifestation of each of the virtues of intellectual dependability is shaped via attention to distinctive group-level features in contexts in which one is depended upon by a community.
