Date of Award
1-1-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.C.J. in Criminal Justice
First Advisor
Deborah Mower
Second Advisor
Steven C. Skultety
Third Advisor
Robert English
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Recent attention in virtue and social epistemology has been devoted to analyzing intellectual virtues. However, intellectual autonomy is underappreciated and has been underexplored. The lack of specificity about the formal character of autonomy makes evaluating it as an intellectual character trait and virtue difficult. Here, I will examine extant accounts of intellectual autonomy and show why puzzles about them remain. I then offer intellectual autonomy under a compositional framework. Ultimately, I aim to show that intellectual autonomy—when adequately conceived—is a viable intellectual virtue that epistemic agents in an intellectual community [ought] to cultivate and maintain.
Recommended Citation
Boaitey, Paisley Agyare, "In Defense of Intellectual Autonomy" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3249.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/3249