Pensamiento e ideas fuerza de la educación en derechos humanos en Iberoamérica [Core ideas and thinking about human rights education in Iberoamerica]

ABSTRACT

In A Theory of Moral Education, Michael Hand defends the importance of teaching children moral standards, even while taking seriously the fact that reasonable people disagree about morality. While I agree there are universal moral values based on the kind of beings humans are, I raise two issues with Hand’s account. The first is an omission that may be compatible with Hand’s theory; the role of virtues. A role for the cultivation of virtues and rational emotions such as compassion is vital in accounting for the emotional aspect of morality. The second issue pertains to Hand’s foundational premise of human beings’ rough equality. Following Martha Nussbaum, I argue that contractarian approaches must be critically evaluated to ensure the social contract properly includes and accounts for the human dignity of those who are typically excluded from the benefits of society. Hand’s justificatory arguments rely upon a contractarian premise, and the contract itself needs scrutiny and adjustment if it is to support a viable theory of moral education.     

Nonadmirable moral exemplars and virtue development

ABSTRACT

Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarist moral theory claims that admiration for a person is a necessary condition for her to be a moral exemplar. I argue that this claim is empirically unsupported. I provide two counterexamples, astronauts and brain data. I demonstrate that they play the role of exemplars well but receive no admiration and, accordingly, are entitled to be called nonadmirable moral exemplars. I conclude that my argument suggests why Aristotle, distinct from Zagzebski, does not emphasise the role of the praiseworthiness of virtue in his theory of virtue development in the Nicomachean Ethics.     

A Narrative Approach to Moral Experience Using Dramatic Play and Writing

In this article, I propose a narrative approach to moral experience through dramatic play and writing. Inspired by the narrative approach to moral conflicts recommended by Mark B. Tappan and Lyn Mikel Brown and by the Que´bec drama programme, this approach works with multiple dimensions of the students' lives and give them a chance to benefit from their own moral experience. This approach to moral education is based on action research conducted in secondary moral education classes in Que´bec (Canada) and in Belgium.     

Policies,Agendas, and Practices Influencing Doctoral Education in Physical Education Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

If teaching physical education is a moral activity, it follows that there is a moral component to the preparation of teachers of physical education and thus a moral component to the preparation of teacher educators. In this article, I examine the major policies, agendas, and practices that influence doctoral preparation in physical education teacher education. I argue from both a utilitarian and realist perspective that we can best serve children and youth in schools by being knowledgeable of the contexts and effects of these policies, agendas, and practices in educating future professors of physical education teacher education.     

A thousand tiny pluralities: children becoming-other than the requirements of postsecular neoliberal policy recognition

ABSTRACT

This paper critiques the idea that secular education policy can neutrally recognise children’s non/religious identities at school. It also empirically analyses how one child becomes restricted by, and eludes, classed, gendered and adult-centred moral codes enacted through local school recognition. The concept of policy assemblage is first used to problematise postsecular, market-led enactments of non/religious school community recognition transnationally. I argue postsecular policy enactments in Ireland and elsewhere produce viable and non-viable forms of non/religious school community, thus containing, rather than facilitating school plurality and (re)creating social hierarchies. However, drawing on Deleuzian ideas of becoming and partial objects, I argue children are not determined by the sense-making moral codes of the policy assemblage. To demonstrate this argument, I map instances of how one girl alters and eludes the meanings of austerity, choice and authenticity moral codes. I do not privilege this girl as an example of child resistance, as I argue against using children as barometers of policy authority and secularist authenticity. Instead, I contend that alongside naming and opposing policy’s unjust effects, we need to cultivate attention to our capacity to affect and be affected by the partial objects (e.g. moral codes) and becomings of postsecular neoliberal policy assemblages.     

Admiration,attraction and the aesthetics of exemplarity

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to show that an aesthetics of exemplarity could be a useful component of projects of moral self-cultivation. Using Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarism, I describe a distinctive, aesthetically-inflected mode of admiration called moral attraction whose object is the inner beauty of a person—the expression of the ‘inner’ virtues or excellences of character of a person in ‘outer’ forms of bodily comportment that are experienced, by others, as beautiful. I then argue that certain moral traditions deploy inner beauty within their practices of moral self-cultivation—a good example being Confucianism. Advocates of exemplarist moral education should therefore take seriously the ways that an aesthetics of exemplarity can play roles within projects of moral self-cultivation.     

Exemplarist moral theory – some pros and cons

ABSTRACT

The article makes a number of critical remarks concerning Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarism. On the positive side, I argue that one of its strengths is the focus on motivation as an important factor in moral education whilst, on the negative, I draw attention to two issues. The first is that Zagzebski’s notion of moral exemplars is insufficient since it is too narrow, merely focusing as it does on high standard moral heroes while neglecting more usual moral agents who at least in some respects may also play the role of exemplars. Secondly, I find Zagzebski’s view of admiration (as a fundamental notion in building a moral theory) to be somewhat circular.     

Scrooge and significant moral change

ABSTRACT

Virtue theorists commonly assert that significant moral change, such as the cultivation of a virtue or the elimination of a vice, can only occur over a prolonged period of time. Many scholars who make this claim also accept the comparison between virtues and skills. In this article I argue that if one accepts the comparison between virtues and skills, there should be instances in which significant moral change can occur relatively quickly.     

Education and the overcoming of evil

Abstract

In this essay, I try to make sense out of Kant’s unusual concept of grace, particularly as regards its uneasy relationship to education within the context of the effort to overcome evil. The key to the puzzle, I argue, lies in what I call ‘moral receptivity’. Part of education’s job is to make us morally receptive to grace by preparing us for its possibility.     

How the West Was One: The Western as individualist,the African as communitarian

Abstract

There is a kernel of truth in the claim that Western philosophy and practice of education is individualistic; theory in Euro-America tends to prize properties that are internal to a human being, such as her autonomy, rationality, knowledge, pleasure, desires, self-esteem and self-realisation, and education there tends to adopt techniques focused on the individual placed at some distance from others. What is striking about other philosophical–educational traditions in the East and the South is that they are typically much more communitarian. I argue that since geographical terms such as ‘Western’, ‘African’ and the like are best construed as picking out properties that are salient in a region, it is fair to conclude that the Western is individualist and that the African is communitarian. What this means is that if I am correct about a noticeable contrast between philosophies of education typical in the West and in sub-Saharan Africa, and if there are, upon reflection, attractive facets of communitarianism, then those in the West and in societies influenced by it should in some real sense become less Western, in order to take them on.     

Do Senior Secondary Students Possess the Moral Maturity to Negotiate Class Rules?

Abstract

Two studies are reported using written question sheets to assess attitudes to and moral reasoning about class rules among a total of 117 senior secondary school students and 87 trainee teachers. The studies confirmed the prediction of the multidimensional control model of the development of moral reasoning of Langford (1991a, b; 1992a, b) that the moral reasoning of such students about this topic is much more mature than predicted by Kohlbergian theory, their most important source of information for making moral decisions in this area being the general welfare of students and teachers. Other detailed predictions of the multidimensional control model were also, in the main, verified. It was found that, although the great majority of senior secondary students thought we ought to have those class rules that are necessary to protect the right of others to learn, there exist a small minority whose main aim is revenge upon schools and teachers and a rather larger minority who are not even prepared to uphold such rules in theory when it comes to classes in which they are not interested. It was concluded that while it is possible to reach agreement with the great majority of students of this age about rules to protect the learning of others, sanctions are needed to back class rules opposed by a minority even in theory.     

The poverty of contractarian moral education

ABSTRACT

In A Theory of Moral Education, Michael Hand claims that a directive moral education that seeks to persuade children that a particular conception of contractarian morality is justified can be undertaken without falling foul of the requirement not to indoctrinate. In this article, we set out a series of challenges to Hand’s argument. First, we argue that Hand’s focus on ‘reasonable disagreement’ regarding the status of a moral conception is a red-herring. Second, we argue that the endorsement of moral contractarianism and the prohibition on indoctrination pull in different directions: if contractarianism is sound, then teachers or governments should be less worried about indoctrination than Hand suggests. Third, we argue that moral contractarianism is mistaken; teachers should look elsewhere for guidance on the moral norms and principles towards which they should direct their pupils.     

The pedigree of the modern school

Abstract:

The article draws upon the work of two people, Lawrence Stenhouse and Derek Morrell, who in the 1960s offered a vision of education based upon, first, the moral conviction that a liberal and humane education was essential for all and for society, second, the belief in a curriculum agenda in which such moral conviction might be reconciled with moral uncertainty, and, third, the recognition of the indispensability of a democratic approach to making that reconciliation possible. The article shows how that vision has been dimmed by a prevailing social philosophy and political practice, sadly abetted by some in universities who should know better.     

Philosophy for Children,Values Education and the Inquiring Society

Abstract

How can school education best bring about moral improvement? Socrates believed that the unexamined life was not worth living and that the philosophical examination of life required a collaborative inquiry. Today, our society relegates responsibility for values to the personal sphere rather than the social one. I will argue that, overall, we need to give more emphasis to collaboration and inquiry rather than pitting students against each other and focusing too much attention on ‘teaching that’ instead of ‘teaching how’. I will argue that we need to include philosophy in the curriculum throughout the school years, and teach it through a collaborative inquiry which enables children to participate in an open society subject to reason. Such collaborative inquiry integrates personal responsibility with social values more effectively than sectarian and didactic religious education.     

Cultivating moral consciousness: The quintessential relation of practical reason and mind (Gemüt) as a bulwark against the propensity for radical evil

Abstract

To perfect human beings with an innate propensity for radical evil is a formidable task. Kant explicitly says that the propensity for evil is not eradicable; it is rooted in human nature, specifically in the human power of choice-making. The task is to reorient the natural order of choice-making (which derives its maxim from an object of the inclinations), to the moral order that takes the moral law as its supreme principle. I explicate the role of a specific capacity of the human subjective side of judging in this process; namely, of ‘mind’ in its sense as Gemüt. While human willing and choice-making are subject to the influence of sensuousness (the inclinations and passions), Gemüt is a capacity of sensibility (Sinnlichkeit) that allows the human subject to enjoy the feeling of being pleased in the fulfillment of duty. Its four specific aesthetic preliminary concepts of responsiveness to concepts of duty – moral feeling (as respect for the law), conscience, love of humanity, and respect for oneself (self-esteem) – must be cultivated in order to make objective practical reason also subjectively practical. Thereby one secures a bulwark against the ineliminable propensity for evil whose first effect is to destroy inner moral integrity.     

Consistency and moral integrity: A self-determination theory perspective

ABSTRACT

If acting morally can be viewed as acting consistently with a moral principle or rule, then being a person with moral integrity can be viewed as consistently applying moral principles or rules across different types of situations. We advance a view of moral integrity that incorporates three distinct, but interrelated, types of moral consistency: cognitive, emotional and motivational moral consistency. Our approach is based on Self-Determination Theory, a motivational theory that can explain when a moral rule becomes the primary motive for behavior. We argue that moral integrity is achieved when a person acts on the basis of an internal moral system of principles, emotions and motives and provide an account of the way that it develops during a person’s interaction with the environment.     

The Role of Value Priorities and Professional Ethics Training in Moral Sensitivity

This study investigated the sensitivity to moral issues from a story in a professional context and development of the ability to interpret moral situations in a sample of 50 social psychology students participating in a one-semester course on professional ethics. The relationships between initial value priorities measured by Schwartz Value Survey (1992) and moral sensitivity were also explored. Nearly half of the respondents (46%) progressed on sensitivity from the pre-test to the post-test, whereas the control group's ( n = 6) mean score declined significantly. Younger respondents and those without any previous degree progressed more in moral sensitivity than older ones and those with previous degree. No gender differences were found in the total moral sensitivity score. However, females and males seemed to focus partially on different issues while interpreting the situation. Concerning the value priorities, respondents with higher regard for the power, hedonism and stimulation value types were lower on sensitivity, whereas the universalism value type was positively related to the sensitivity level.     

Prioritizing morality in the self and consistent moral responses despite encouragement to behave immorally

ABSTRACT

When morality is important and central to individuals’ identities (moral identity), it may heighten their sense of responsibility to behave in moral ways. Although research has linked moral identity to various moral actions, research has yet to demonstrate the association between moral identity and individuals’ consistent moral choices, despite situational sanctions (i.e., peer group approval) to behave immorally. The purpose of this study was to examine if prioritizing morality in the self is associated with individuals’ consistent moral responses in four situations encouraging the expression of immoral behavior. After reading about situations in which peers approved of and encouraged immoral behavior (i.e., stealing a laptop, drunk driving, cheating on an exam, keeping someone else’s money), 185 participants reported the degree to which they disagreed or agreed that: (1) each situation was immoral; (2) they would resist the ‘temptation’ to behave immorally; and (3) they would attempt to convince their peers of the ‘right thing’ to do. Results revealed that, despite being encouraged to behave immorally, heightened moral identity predicted individuals’ moral responses in three (of the four) situations. When morality is important and central to individuals’ identities, moral choices tend to emerge despite opportunities to behave immorally.