Aptness and the Causal Role of Epistemic Virtues

Abstract

Abstract The general arc of this chapter’s argument proceeds from the platitude that tasks often get easier as we get more familiar with them, and it ends with the stunning revelation that the aesthetic properties of theories/frames facilitate the structuring—and, thus, the solving—of research problems. The keystone of that arc is the observation that the ability to understand a metaphor is affected by that metaphor’s aptness: an unfamiliar but apt metaphor is processed with the same speed as a familiar metaphor. One’s facility with the use of a research frame is made possible by features that contribute to that frame’s aptness, even when one lacks the experience required to become familiar with it. Researchers can make epistemically warranted choices about frames without prior experience, because epistemic virtues are constituents of the aptness of a frame.