Epistemic Role Models

A liberal account of epistemic exemplarity for education is developed. Building on recent work in virtue epistemology, it is argued that the standard view of epistemic role models as exceptionally virtuous and imitable agents faces significant pedagogical limitations. We propose expanding this conception in two directions: by including enkratic exemplars, who demonstrate virtuous conduct despite inner conflict and thus qualify as exemplars despite lacking full virtue; and by incorporating injustice illuminators, whose meta-lucidity reveals forms of epistemic oppression and who can serve as exemplars even when their conduct cannot be directly emulated. This enriched framework addresses key challenges facing traditional exemplarism while preserving its insight that we can learn to be better epistemic agents through engagement with appropriate role models. The resulting account equips educators with richer resources for fostering intellectual virtue development.