“Virtuous Minds” by Philip E. Dow focuses primarily on loving and serving God with one’s mind. Dow explains that intellectual character consists of inner attitudes and deposition towards things such as truth, knowledge, and understanding. Similarly, a virtuous intellectual character is defined as a deep and abiding love of truth. Dow states that the decisions people make are shaped by the thinking patterns they have developed over the years. Dow describes intellectually courageous people as those who earnestly want to know the truth, and therefore take risks in the promotion and pursuit of truth. Only when people overcome their small fears will they be able to form habits that will ultimately turn them into intellectually courageous human beings. …show more content…
Dow mentions the fact that those who are humble will be rewarded with a world far larger and richer than the one inhabited by the intellectually proud person. Intellectual humility is one of the most difficult virtues to develop because of the pride that is so deeply rooted in all human’s. Intellectually humble people see themselves not as owners instead as good stewards of the truth. Almost always, the intellectually humble are more generous with knowledge than the intellectually proud. Dow states that the benefits of intellectually virtuous character are gifts that God wants people to experience. These benefits can be broken down into three categories. The first being, we come to know more. In addition, we become better thinkers and, therefore meaning, we become better people. Dow suggests that the knowledge that naturally comes from intellectual character does not just decrease our suffering, and the suffering of those around us; it can also substantially increase our enjoyment of the world. A person’s experience of the world will only be as rich as their knowledge of the world. The increase in knowledge people gain by the development of their intellectual character makes them more interesting people as a whole. In short, the most interesting people are usually the knowledgeable and intellectually