Towards a theory of moral education

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    Abstract

    In this inaugural lecture, delivered at the University of Birmingham in January 2014, I sketch the outline of a theory of moral education. The theory is an attempt to resolve the tension between two thoughts widely entertained by teachers, policy-makers and the general public. The first thought is that morality must be learned: children must come to see what morality requires of them and acquire the motivation to submit to its authority. The second thought is that morality is controversial: there is deep uncertainty about both the requirements of morality and the reasons to comply with them. I draw distinctions between two kinds of moral education (moral formation and moral inquiry) and between two kinds of moral inquiry (directive and nondirective). I argue that some basic moral standards are robustly justified and that schools should promote subscription to these standards by means of both moral formation and directive moral inquiry.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)519-532
    Number of pages14
    JournalJournal of Philosophy of Education
    Volume48
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 24 Nov 2014

    Keywords

    • moral education
    • moral formation
    • moral inquiry
    • moral standards
    • indoctrination
    • directive teaching
    • nondirective teaching
    • problem of sociality

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