Therefore, the Stoic conflation of moral virtue with technical excellence (techne) generates an implausibly omncompetent ideal that severs virtue from the epistemic conditions that ground it.

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Reasons For

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Reason for

1.Virtue requires practical wisdom about particular situations, which demands empirical knowledge the Stoic sage cannot universally possess.
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2.Conflating virtue with techne suggests the virtuous person needs no learning curve, yet expertise in any domain requires experiential development.
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3.The Stoic model divorces moral judgment from fallible human cognition, making virtue independent of the epistemic grounds that justify ethical claims.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against

1.Stoics distinguish virtue (arete) from technical skill; virtue concerns assent to impressions, not mastering external techniques or circumstances.
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2.The Stoic sage's omncompetence refers only to achieving indifference to externals, not to empirical knowledge—so no unrealistic epistemic claim arises.
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3.Virtue grounded in rational principles accessible through philosophy doesn't require the particularized knowledge techne demands from craftspeople.
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Key Terms

Conflation(as the logical error the Tiantai argument makes): Mistakenly treating two different things as if they were the same thing.
Ground (as a verb)(as used in epistemology): To serve as the foundation or justification for a belief—to be the reason why you should accept something as true.
Omncompetent(The statement criticizes the Stoic view as creating an unrealistically omncompetent ideal of virtue.): Able to do everything excellently; having skill and knowledge in all areas without any limits or weaknesses.
Stoicism(the philosophical school whose doctrines Arcesilaus is engaging with): An ancient Greek and Roman philosophy that teaches virtue is the highest good, and that we should accept what happens with calm reason rather than being controlled by emotions.
Technical excellence(This is different from moral virtue; it's about competence in a specific skill.): Being really skilled at a practical craft or ability—doing something like building, cooking, or fixing things in a masterful way.
epistemic conditions: Conditions such as space and time, without which we cannot cognize any object
moral virtue(Nicomachean Ethics 1107a1): A disposition to choose actions lying in the mean relative to the agent, determined by reason; it belongs to the part of the soul that can obey reason rather than the part that reasons itself.
techne(Used in the charitable interpretation to restrict the scope of the definitional priority requirement): A model of expert knowledge that requires the ability to give definitions

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Virtue Ethics1 linked

Conflating virtue with techne suggests the virtuous person needs no learning cur...Stoics distinguish virtue (arete) from technical skill; virtue concerns assent t...The Stoic model divorces moral judgment from fallible human cognition, making vi...The Stoic sage's omncompetence refers only to achieving indifference to external...

Details

Type: claim
Perspectives: 2 (1 for, 1 against)
Edits: 1 edit