A Study On Zagzebski’s Virtue Responsibility Epistemology And Its Educational Significance

Linda Zagzebski’s virtue responsibility epistemology is a new branch in the development of contemporary theory of knowledge.Based on the existing traditional theory of knowledge,she takes "virtue" as the center and combines it with ethical knowledge to reinterpret knowledge and cognitive process.Zagzebski criticized the traditional triadic theory of knowledge and pointed out that the value of knowledge is more important than the confirmation of knowledge.At the same time,she focuses on the subject cognitive field of human beings and emphasizes the important role of rational virtue in the cognitive process as an intrinsic excellent quality of cognitive subjects.On this basis,Zagzebski believes that the special value of knowledge for cognitive subjects lies in realizing human development and making people feel happy.To a certain extent,the theory that virtue resides in knowledge coincides with the concept of "curriculum ideology and politics" that China attaches great importance to.Therefore,the study of her theory is not only helpful for us to deeply understand how the thought of virtue is integrated with the theory of knowledge,but also enlightening to change the traditional educational concept and realize the benign interaction between knowledge and morality,which is worth our thinking and research.Therefore,this paper starts with Zagzebski’s virtue responsibility epistemology,takes it as the focus of research,and uses the method of literature research and comparative research to understand and master the main content and features of Zagzebski’s virtue responsibility epistemology and intellectual virtue,analyze and summarize the educational significance and the value of the virtue responsibility epistemology,reflect on China’s education to some extent,and find the congenial point between her thought and our educational practice.This paper first combs out the origin and formation of Zagzebski’s morality thought,reviews the contemporary theory of knowledge’s morality turn,the turmoil and reform of American education and her own academic experience,all of which lay a foundation for her subsequent research on the virtue responsibility epistemology.Second,it explains the main content of Zagzebski’s virtue responsibility epistemology,including the perspective of intellectual virtue,the unity of intellectual virtue and moral virtue,the value of knowledge problem and exemplarist virtue theory,can be found from this part of her virtue responsibility epistemology mainly addresses the related issues of intellectual virtue and knowledge.Again,for the core concept of virtue responsibility epistemology has carried on the detailed explanation,mainly has the uniqueness of intellectual virtue,the constituent elements of intellectual virtue（motivation and success）,the importance of intellectual virtue to knowledge,on this basis,we will have a more full understanding of her virtue responsibility epistemology.Then,I evaluate Zagzebski’s thoughts on virtue responsibility epistemology,point out the disputes existing in her theory on intellectual virtue,and summarize two contributions from the perspective of "promoting the integration of epistemology and ethics and attaching importance to the value of knowledge".Finally,the educational significance of virtue responsibility epistemology is analyzed,and it is believed that it plays a certain role in changing the traditional educational concept of our country.On this basis,it is proposed that intellectual virtue can provide guarantee for students’ cognitive process,and some cultivation principles of intellectual virtue that can be applied to teaching practice in our country are given.