ACG 150

Alkis Kotsonis, PhD

Deree – The American College of Greece; University of Glasgow

My current and past research lies at the intersection of virtue theory, epistemology and education. It concentrates on the study of the concept of intellectual excellence and the development of new epistemological and educational theories of virtue. My specific aims have been (a) to articulate an account of the nature and value of epistemic virtue and (b) develop effective educational strategies for its cultivation.

I have developed a distinctive methodology that integrates conceptual, historical, and educational approaches to the study of epistemic virtue. My doctoral thesis was the first study to examine the significance of the Platonic conception of intellectual virtues for contemporary epistemology and education. Integrating historical and philosophical methods, I demonstrated the significance of Plato’s work to contemporary epistemology and philosophy of education (viz. how Plato’s philosophical thought can be employed to inform and advance theories in these fields).

My current project builds on this interdisciplinary methodology. I aim to provide an account of the virtue of epistemic collaborativeness and embed it within a distinctive character epistemology of education. The goal is to reconceptualize education by providing a sophisticated account of one of its key features – epistemic collaborativeness. Notably, some of our educational practices may have to be reassessed if considered in terms of their capacity to foster epistemic collaborativeness (e.g. relentless agonistic testing of students).

Publications

Selected Publications

(2024)*. Epistemic vice rehabilitation: Saints and sinners zetetic exemplarism. Educational Theory. (With Dunne G.). DOI: 10.1111/edth.12624

(2024)*. Carving at the joints: Distinguishing epistemic wrongs from epistemic harms in epistemic injustice contexts. Episteme. (With Dunne G.). DOI: 10.1017/epi.2023.62

(2023)*. The harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media. Journal of Moral Education. (With Dunne G.). DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2023.2225763

(2023)*. Plato’s legacy to education: Addressing two misunderstandings. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 57(3), 739-747 DOI: 10.1093/jopedu/qhad049

(2023)*. Epistemic collaborativeness as an intellectual virtue. Erkenntnis, 88(3), 869-884. DOI: 10.1007/s10670-021-00384-y

(2023)*. Epistemic exploitation in education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 55(3), 343-355 (With Dunne, G.). DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2022.2094249

(2023)*. Moral exemplarism as a powerful indoctrinating tool. Journal of Value Inquiry  57(4), 593-605. DOI: 10.1007/s10790-021-09844-8

(2023)*. On the virtue of epistemic justice and the vice of epistemic injustice. Episteme  20(3), 598-610. DOI: 10.1017/epi.2022.32

(2022)*. The Aristotelian understanding of intellectual vice: Its significance for contemporary vice epistemology. European Journal of Philosophy, 30(3), 1161-1172.  DOI:  10.1111/ejop.12725

(2022)*. Educating for collaboration: A virtue education approach. Ethics & Education, 17(3), 311-323. DOI: 10.1080/17449642.2022.2111485

(2022)*. Why empathy is an intellectual virtue. Philosophical Psychology. (With Dunne, G.). DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2100753

(2022)*. A novel understanding of the nature of epistemic vice. Synthese. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-022-03519-y

(2022)*. The curious case of the excellent gossiper. Philosophia, 50(3), 1207-1222. DOI: 10.1007/s11406-021-00444-1

(2022)*. Social media as inadvertent educators. Journal of Moral Education, 51(2), 311-323. DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2020.1838267

(2021)*. On the Platonic pedagogical methodology: An alternative to the Aristotelian theory of education. Ethics and Education, 16(4), 464-477. DOI: 10.1080/17449642.2021.1965300

(2021)*. Socrates as an epistemic character builder. Ancient Philosophy Today: Dialogoi, 3(2), 133-147 (With Scaltsas, T., Lytra, I. and Pritchard, D.). DOI: 10.3366/anph.2021.0049

(2021)*. The prominent role of education in the Platonic account of imperfect political systems. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 55(2), 347-357. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9752.12556

(2020)*. On the limitations of moral exemplarism: Socio-cultural values and gender. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 23, 223-235. DOI: 10.1007/s10677-020-10061-8

(2020)*. What can we learn from Plato about intellectual character education? Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(3), 251-260. DOI:  10.1080/00131857.2019.1631157

*  peer-reviewed publication