Socratic Wisdom: Midwives, Mentors, and a Broader Understanding of Epistemic Goods
Socratic Wisdom: Midwives, Mentors, and a Broader Understanding of Epistemic Goods

Summary/Abstract: The paper argues for nuancing the understanding of epistemic goods and evaluations by analysing the role of mentors in epistemic communities, with a particular focus on Socrates. While traditional epistemic evaluations emphasise the production of knowledge, some epistemic agents contribute to the epistemic well-being of their communities in ways that do not directly yield these standard goods. For example, the primary role of Socrates was not as a knowledge producer, but as a mentor who guided and educated others. To capture the epistemic significance of such figures, I propose a distinction between product-like and agent-centred epistemic goods. I provide nuance to our understanding of epistemic value by linking it to the epistemic well-being of a community and different ways to improve it.

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