Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education: The Community of Ethical Inquiry

by Sprod,Tim

• ISBN13: 9780415241724
• ISBN10: 0415241723
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-15
• Publisher: RoutledgeFalmer

Summary

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of calls for moral education to receive greater public attention. In our pluralist society, however, it is difficult to find agreement on what exactly moral education requires. Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education develops a detailed philosophical defence of the claim that teachers should engage students in ethical discussions to promote moral competence and strengthen moral character. Paying particular attention to the teacher's role, this book highlights the justification for, and methods of, creating a classroom community of ethical inquiry.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction: As morning shows the day	1	(2)
Moral education and schools	3	(2)
Philosophical approach	5	(3)
Structure of the book	8	(1)
PART I Reason and autonomy	9	(78)
The ethical agent and reasonableness	11	(35)
Reasonableness and autonomy	11	(3)
The aspects of reasonableness	14	(30)
Reasonableness and moral education	44	(2)
The ethical agent and autonomy	46	(13)
Kant on reason and autonomy	46	(2)
Reason and development	48	(1)
Evidence from experimental developmental psychology	49	(5)
A reconceptualization of autonomy	54	(3)
Towards a new understanding of autonomy	57	(2)
Pedagogic action and the development of autonomy	59	(28)
Dialogical action and the classroom	59	(20)
Autonomy again	79	(6)
From foundations to moral theory	85	(2)
PART II Moral theory and moral development	87	(56)
A target for moral education	89	(18)
Meta-ethical theory: monolithic or multi-dimensional?	89	(3)
Virtue ethics	92	(13)
Virtue ethics: benefits and drawbacks	105	(2)
Discourse ethics	107	(19)
Habermas and discourse ethics	108	(2)
A critical appraisal of discourse ethics	110	(14)
Discourse ethics: benefits and drawbacks	124	(2)
A meta-ethics for an ethical education program	126	(17)
Strengths and weaknesses	126	(2)
Discursive virtue ethics	128	(11)
From meta-ethics to the classroom	139	(4)
PART III Discourse and ethics in the classroom	143	(64)
Introducing the community of inquiry	145	(7)
The community of inquiry	146	(2)
Vygotskian learning in the community of inquiry	148	(4)
Development and the community of inquiry	152	(30)
The development of reasonableness	156	(3)
Ethical development in the community of inquiry	159	(8)
The place of the teacher	167	(2)
Indoctrination, ethical relativism, moral indifference and the path between them	169	(11)
Towards detailed practice	180	(2)
At the chalkface	182	(25)
The preliminary phase of the community of inquiry	183	(3)
The discussion phase of the community of inquiry	186	(18)
Classroom communities of ethical inquiry	204	(3)
Notes	207	(6)
Bibliography	213	(10)
Index	223