Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education: The Community of Ethical Inquiry (Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education, 12)

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. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introduction: As morning shows the day......Page 12 Reason and autonomy......Page 20 The ethical agent and reasonableness......Page 22 The ethical agent and autonomy......Page 57 Pedagogic action and the development of autonomy......Page 70 Moral theory and moral development......Page 98 A target for moral education......Page 100 Discourse ethics......Page 118 A meta-ethics for an ethical education program......Page 137 Discourse and ethics in the classroom......Page 154 Introducing the community of inquiry......Page 156 Development and the community of inquiry......Page 163 At the chalkface......Page 193 Notes......Page 218 Bibliography......Page 224 Index......Page 234 When Wanda returns a lost wallet to its owner, we praise her for having done the right thing, and consider her to be an ethical agent,worthy of praise.