A seminary professor recommended this book to me as a good introduction to the field of epistemology. I have a background in apologetics, but limited exposure to philosophy. This book by Wood delivers the philosophical subject of epistemology in a way I think serious lay students can grasp and enjoy, especially those interested in Christian philosophy.
Throughout the book, Wood makes it clear he is trying to re-establish some historic ground with an epistemology emphasizing intellectual virtue (as opposed to intellectual vice). Patterns of intellectual virtue like being truthful, teachable, inquisitive and observant are contrasted with intellectual vices like willful ignorance, obtuseness and vicious curiosity (e.g. an insatiable quest for information irrespective of personal or environmental harm). Personal motives and similar deeper spiritual/psychological factors are explored as being drivers of whether a particular intellectual attribute is a virtue or a vice. Wood does not claim individual credit for this insight and traces its origins to ancient authors like Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas (p17). "A motif of this book [is] that study of some of the traditional concerns of epistemology illuminate powerfully on our understanding of certain intellectual virtues, and vice versa. The old and the new thus compliment one another" (p76).
Much of the book involves a comparison of foundationalism and coherentism as two main schools of epistemology. Internalism, externalism and justification also get plenty of discussion and I needed all of this. Since I'm not well schooled in epistemology at this time, I won't try to critique the subtle ins and outs of his thought, but I found all of it useful. Page 144 seems to hold a key quote to help get a fix on Wood, for those who are already savvy in epistemology: "My claim is that an account of justification derived from the broader tradition of virtue epistemology captures the keys insights of both internalists and externalists." Wood also discusses the potential of his theory being susceptible to failure in case of self-deception (p150-1) and defends against this objection.
Although Wood frequently compares his Intellectual Virtues epistemology with other contemporary theories, there is useful general background on the field of epistemology. "Because this book highlights matters of intellectual virtue and vice, many topics routinely treated in introductory texts to epistemology do not receive sustained or systematic treatment" (p8). Wood gives references in the back of the book to more general epistemology textbooks and I found this list useful for my next study.
Although this is not a straight philosophy textbook per se', make no mistake that is loaded with introductory philosophy - you may find it handy to have a book (or the Internet) to look up info on people like Descartes (who gets extended discussion), Hume, Aristotle, Reid, Kant, Plantinga, etc. I also put my dictionary to work to learn words like: apodictic, desiderata, simplicter, infelicitous. Don't get the idea the book is dry or overly hard to penetrate, it's not; but the author doesn't hide the fact he is a philosopher. The only improvement I can think of for this book would be to add end of chapter review questions to help philosophy beginners like me.
Last point, there is some humor; here's one of my favorites: "If someone whacks me upside the head with a polo mallet, simultaneously scrambling my brains and producing in me a true belief about the temperature in Bangkok, no on is tempted to call my newfound belief knowledge." (p171). As far as philosophy goes, I find that pretty funny. I love this book and recommend it highly.
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