Epistemic insensitivity: An insidious and consequential vice

Virtue is a type of excellence. But there are many excellences. One debate in the virtue epistemology literature has been between the two types of excellences described as “reliabilism” and “responsibilism”. These virtues differ, for instance, insofar as the former are closer to a skill and the latter closer to a character trait. But one factor they have in common is that both consider traits virtuous insofar as they aid an agent in acquiring true beliefs, wisdom, knowledge, etc. Expertise insensitivity is obviously a detrimental vice of a teacher. Educators unaware of lost students not only fail to teach in that instant, but this vice has consequences for the next semester as slides, assignments, and class activities remain unchanged. It is also unfortunate to be an audience member of an academic talk featuring an insensitive speaker.