The article seeks to reclaim a type of fear lost in silent omission in education, yet central to the development of an ethical subject. It distinguishes the fear described by Martin Heidegger through the concept of "befindlichkeit" and fear for the other as an essential moment for ethics articulated by Emmanuel Levinas. It argues that…

The recent war in Europe, the Ukraine-Russia war, has had a huge impact in the lives of millions of people in the European continent--in the lives of both those who have fled the conflict and of those who have welcomed them with open arms. In this paper, we conduct a philosophical investigation into the issue of hospitality to others, to…

The aim of this article is to make a case for Aristotelian friendship as a 'method' of moral education "qua" mutual character development. After setting out some Aristotelian assumptions about friendship and education (and revising some of those) in the "Aristotle and Beyond: Some Basics about Character Friendship and…

The Norwegian high-school drama series Skam is produced and published by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, a publicly funded institution distinguished by an explicit obligation to the public interest, not only serving their audience as consumers but even as citizens. Generally, the normativity expressed in Skam may be summarized by treating…

Spinoza's claim that self-preservation is the foundation of virtue makes for the point of departure of this philosophical investigation into what a Spinozistic model of moral education might look like. It is argued that Spinoza's metaphysics places constraints on moral education insofar as an educational account would be affected by Spinoza's…

This essay seeks to add to a growing body of literature in philosophy of education that focuses on issues of historical consciousness and remembrance and their connections to moral education. In particular, I wish to explore the following questions: What does it mean to maintain a tension between remembering and forgetting tragic historical…

We establish the thesis that in moral education, particularly in the first years of the child's development, unreflexive acts or "unreflexiveness" in certain behaviours of adults is a condition for the development of the personality structure and virtues that enable autonomous ethical reflection and a relation to the Other. With the…

Emotion education is enjoying new-found popularity. This paper explores the "cosy consensus" that seems to have developed in education circles, according to which approaches to emotion education are immune from metaethical considerations such as contrasting rationalist and sentimentalist views about the moral ontology of emotions. I spell out five…

The article defends ubuntu against the assault by Enslin and Horsthemke ("Comp Educ" 40(4):545-558, 2004). It challenges claims that the Africanist/Afrocentrist project, in which the philosophy of ubuntu is central, faces numerous problems, involves substantial political, moral, epistemological and educational errors, and should…

Although empathy is arguably an important factor to consider in moral education, the concept itself has consistently stood on tenuous ground. In this essay, I claim that our adherence to ontological dualism and discrete subjectivity have problematized our comprehension of empathy. I propose that our understanding is limited by our understanding of…

This paper presents a praxiological analysis of three everyday educational practices or strategies that can be considered as being directed at the moral formation of the emotions. The first consists in requests to imagine other's emotional reactions. The second comprises requests to imitate normative emotional reactions and the third to…

In this article, I examine anew the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant and its contributions to educational theory. I make four claims. First, that Kant should be read as having the Categorical Imperative develop out of subjective maxims. Second, that moral self-perfection is the aim of moral education. Third, that moral self-perfection develops by…

This essay subjects to philosophical scrutiny a well-known theory in social psychology, the theory of a belief in a just world ("BJW"-theory). What are the implications of the theory for moral philosophy, in general, and moral education/schooling, in particular? Should parents and teachers discourage or encourage children to believe in a just…

This essay is an attempt to understand how technological metaphors, particularly computer metaphors, are relevant to moral education. After discussing various types of technological metaphors, it is argued that technological metaphors enter moral thought through their "functional descriptions." The computer metaphor is then explored by turning to…

Addresses the problems of how moral character is developed and what moral character consists of. Emphasizes the development of democratic, ethical dispositions and focuses on two features of an educational environment that are especially important: respect for students as persons and the democratic organization of the groups in which the young…