This paper explores the educational potential of epistemic exemplars, namely those individuals
who possess intellectual virtues to an exceptional degree. It purports to do so by applying the
exemplarist framework proposed by Linda Zagzebski in her Exemplarist Moral Theory (2017) to
the domain of intellectual virtues. After a brief summary of the main features of her view, I explain
how the exemplarist dynamics can apply to the intellectual domain. Then, I introduce the basics of
an exemplar-based account of education and explain how it can be employed to educate the young
to intellectual virtues. Finally, I attempt to show how this model can accommodate several
objections and, in particular, how it addresses the charge of indoctrinating the students raised by
proponents of a critical thinking approach to education.
