Intellectual Courage and Autonomy: Virtues for Flourishing in Higher Education

• In Event: 56.042 - Intellectual Character Development in Adolescents: Promoting Learning and Success

Abstract

Objectives
This paper explores the contributions of intellectual virtues to student flourishing in higher education settings. Approximately two-thirds of all adolescents will graduate high school and enter immediately into postsecondary education, with the majority enrolling in four-year colleges and universities (NCES, 2015). Yet, these institutions present new demands and expectations that may be unfamiliar to youth. Considering the unique features of this transition period, we argue that two intellectual virtues, intellectual courage and autonomy, are particularly important for flourishing during college.

Theoretical Framework
The study of intellectual virtues has historically spanned two disciplines: philosophy and psychology. This paper bridges these literatures. First, drawing primarily from the growing field of virtue epistemology, this paper understands intellectual virtues as excellences of character that promote good thinking and learning (Annas, 2011; Baehr, 2011; Montmarquet, 1987; Roberts & Wood, 2007; Zagzebski, 1996). In our analysis, intellectual courage is defined as overcoming a fear of social or psychological harm in order to take intellectual risks (Baehr, 2015), and intellectual autonomy is defined as making one’s intellectual commitments one’s own by critically reflecting on and endorsing them. Given that we are particularly interested in intellectual virtue within higher education settings, the paper also draws from empirical work on the cognitive development of college students.

Mode of Inquiry
This paper employs the methods of empirically-engaged philosophy, a tradition that has a long history in philosophy of education and has been gaining momentum in recent years (Wilson & Santoro, 2015). We provide a normative argument that is informed by empirical evidence and aims to provide practically relevant analysis of the importance of cultivating two particular virtues, intellectual courage and autonomy, among college students.

Evidence/Argument/Conclusions
Our argument proceeds in two parts. First, we present salient features of higher education settings that are distinct in kind or degree from students’ prior experiences. For example, youth are more likely to participate in seminar-style courses and mentored research projects during college, and these experiences require them to express their viewpoints and make independent contributions to knowledge production. Drawing from the empirical literature, we consider students' preparedness to respond to these salient features in light of their increased cognitive capacities (e.g., abstract thinking, internalized meaning-making) and epistemic assumptions about knowledge (King & Kitchener, 1992, 2015; Taber-Thomas & Perez-Edgar, 2015).

Second, we argue that the development of intellectual virtues supports youth during the transition from high school to higher education settings. We consider how the virtues of open-mindedness, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and intellectual autonomy relate to one another and to the college context and argue that the unique features of the college period make it both particularly challenging and vital for students to develop intellectual autonomy and to reliably exhibit intellectual courage.

Scholarly Significance
If colleges are to provide all students with equal opportunities for flourishing, attending to the development of the intellectual virtues is vital. This paper illuminates the nature and importance of two key intellectual virtues in this endeavor.

Authors

• Rebecca M Taylor, Emory University

• Ashley Floyd Kuntz, The University of Alabama at Birmigham