Nothing was more important to Tolstoy than character development. For him, the purpose of life is to grow morally. The purpose of literature -- as all art -- is to aid that growth. Abstract philosophy and pedantic scholarship are therefore redundant. Indeed, even the psychological novel is a distraction. Moral truths are self-evident. They are…

Movements like #metoo, #timesup, and #ibelieveher have succeeded in shedding light on the ongoing societal issue of misogyny. Against this backdrop, Kate Manne's attempt to analyze the concept of misogyny philosophically in her book "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny" has rightfully received much acclaim. In this article, Katy Dineen…

In this essay Sharon Lamb considers how progressives have begun to win the longstanding battle to shape sex education and what they have had to give up in the process. After framing the battle in historical context, Lamb uses discourse analysis to explore the hidden values in the "evidence-based" (EB) curricula that progressives…

How can we understand human agency, and what does it mean to educate character? In this essay Klas Roth develops a Kantian notion, one that suggests we render ourselves efficacious and autonomous in education and elsewhere. This requires, among other things, that we are successful in bringing about the intended result through our actions and the…

The crucial epistemological question for formulating the principles that underlie moral education concerns the status of rationality and objectivity in ethics and education. In this essay Katariina Holma argues that the intertwined understanding of the concepts of education, ethics, rationality, and objectivity is built into our language and our…

Moral philosophy seems well placed to claim the key role in theorizing about moral education. Indeed, moral philosophers have from antiquity had much to say about psychological and other processes of moral formation. Given this history, it may seem ironic that much systematic latter-day theorizing about moral education has been social scientific,…

A recent trend in moral education, social and emotional learning, incorporates the mantra of emotional intelligence (EI) as a key element in an extensive program of character building. In making his famous claim that the good life would have to include appropriate emotions, Aristotle obviously considered the schooling of emotions to be an…

A critique of widely held objections to the virtues approach to moral education addresses such problems as: distinguishing virtues; defining individual virtues; emphasizing conduct or reason in virtues; the contexts for understanding conduct; justifying the selection of virtues; and defining the scope of the virtues. (CB)

Indicates basic ontological assumptions in the virtues-principles debate in moral philosophy, noting Aristotle's and Kant's fundamental ideas about morality and considering a hermeneutic synthesis of theories. The article discusses what acceptance of the synthesis might mean in the theory and practice of moral pedagogy, offering examples of…

"Values and Teaching", by Raths, Harmin, and Simon (1978) is examined in the context of Dewey's approach to moral education. While the books' authors claim that their approach is practical, the relationships among such concepts as "overdissenting", "aggresssive", "overconforming", and "submissive"…

Discusses the importance of values education, focusing on: the primary moral concerns of values education; varieties of values education (law, culture, and morality); varieties of values education (cultural diversity); value and evaluation (some conceptual problems); the grounds of value objectivity; Aristotle, virtue, and value; and general…

Argues that there is a particular conceptualization of moral education that should be established in public schools, discussing how to locate a public-school-appropriate moral-education curriculum and examining Dewey's idea of a moral science. The paper's three sections focus on Dewey's new science, the place of the subjective in value judgment,…

The article discusses moral education in public schools. It proposes a realist model of moral realism derived from the work of Richard Boyd and Peter Railton, arguing that it offers relief from skepticism faced by moral educators and a foundation for teachable, achievable morality. (SM)

Homer's epic poetry illustrates correspondence between society's needs and the values stressed in education, while Socrates' thought uncovers contradictions between social and educational values and seeks a new form of correspondence. Examples from the Epics and Plato's early dialogues trace changing educational attitudes among the Classical…

Examines the informer-rule, found in many college and university honor systems, which considers it morally and institutionally imperative that those who offend against the honor system report themselves or be reported by others. The article questions whether individuals should report each other, asking whether it is morally and institutionally…