Critical thinking, education, and postmodernity: Possibilities and limitations for moral education

The contemporary educational discourse on critical thinking, as one of the primary aims of education. has been divided into the spheres of modernist defense and post-modernist criticism. Critical of both positions, this paper attempts to find a new way of employing critical thinking, especially for the purposes of moral education, by drawing on Bernard William’s concept of “ethical reflection.” It will be shown that employing critical thinking for the fostering of ethical reflection in our young students can lead them into an “understanding” of ethical, rather than “ethical knowledge,” which enables them to properly deal with moral relativism in a culturally pluralistic society. This paper then explores the educational possibilities presented by Socrates’ teaching method as an example of this employment, though not without consideration of the attendant educational limitations and dangers.     

Levinas,Ethics and the People: A reply to Soyoung Lee and Paul Standish

Soyoung Lee and Paul Standish have criticised my article ‘Levinas: Ethics or Mystification?’ for misunderstanding and misrepresenting the phenomenological subtleties of Levinas's formulation of ethics. However, although their arguments are cogent and persuasive, I still cannot see how Levinas's ‘ethics of the Other’, regardless of its merits qua phenomenology or ethical philosophy, translates into the practical ethical and moral understanding that would transform people's everyday lives—which was the underlying theme of my original article. In this article, I shall develop this theme further with specific reference to the following difficulties, as I see them, relating to the practicality of Levinas's ethics: (1) it is unclear how ordinary people would gain an understanding of Levinas's ethical vision, or how, once gained, this understanding would change their behaviour; (2) the rejection of personal relations and attachments in favour of pre‐ontological abstractions and metaphorical images (as the ground for the possibility of ethical understanding) renders Levinas's ethical vision powerless to motivate individuals in their everyday lives; (3) conceived as a political project to transform society, Levinas's vision cannot be realised, not even in the commune; (4) the presumption that real human understanding can be gained through the study of Levinas, or any other philosopher, is a highly dubious one.     

论价值观视野中的“道德失范”现象及其治理

价值观是人们心中相对稳定的思想观念,是人们道德行为的内在体现,与道德行为之间有着内在的逻辑联系,社会上频繁出现的"道德失范"现象就是人们一定价值取向的反映和表现。对"道德失范"现象进行价值观透视,目前道德状况不佳的深层次原因主要表现为:价值认识的片面性,价值标准的混乱性,价值实践的随意性。因此,文章基于这些因素考虑,有针对性地提出治理"道德失范"现象的相关对策措施,以社会主义核心价值观为指导,增强人们的道德自觉自信意识,促进道德风气的根本好转,从而为构建社会主义和谐社会和精神文明建设创造更加良好的精神文化氛围。     

Re‐conceptualizing Critical Thinking for Moral Education in Culturally Plural Societies

This paper critically examines the contemporary educational discourse on critical thinking as one of the primary aims of education, its modernist defence and its postmodernist criticism, so as to explore a new way of conceptualizing critical thinking for moral education. What is at stake in this task is finding a plausible answer to the question of how the teaching of critical thinking in moral education can contribute to leading young people to avoid moral relativism while at the same time to develop a coherent way of responding to cultural pluralism. The paper takes Bernard Williams's concept of ‘ethical reflection’ as a possible candidate and explores this concept as a means of accommodating these concerns.     

Conversing on ethics,morality and education

In philosophical use, ‘ethics’ and ‘moral philosophy’ are more closely synonymous—one deriving from Greek, ethikē and the other from Latin moralis. In typical social science paradigms, there generally prevails a consensual sense of contemporary everyday use of ethics, except where earlier usage sustains discourse in terms of morals—as with moral psychology. This article takes a recent publication in this journal by Patrick Welch to propose a ‘conversation’ between theoretic and empirical approaches to ethics and morals. This is illustrated using works by Joseph Ratzinger to suggest a natural law approach that brings together premises and empirics in ethical and moral discourse and action. This kind of integration helps the discovery and owning of truth that is ‘not of one’s own making’. Such a synthetic approach is especially relevant to raising student identity with ethical/moral issues and in assisting their building of psychological structures and processes that support education in ethical/moral reasoning and action.     

网络伦理困惑探析

网络技术的迅速发展在给人类带来众多机遇和福祉的同时 ,也对社会伦理产生了冲击和挑战。处理网络空间与物理空间、信息共享与产权保护、个人隐私与社会监督、通讯自由与社会责任、全球化与民族性的关系 ,存在诸多伦理困惑和道德冲突。必须大力加强网络道德建设的研究 ,帮助人们作出正确的行为选择。目前 ,应确立和强调以下伦理原则 :为人类共同利益原则、关怀人性原则、公正原则、自主原则、责任原则和自律原则     

孔子和谐思想内在理路发微

春秋乱世,物欲横流,尔虞我诈,儒家以性善贵情为内涵的“仁”为中心,构建了通往社会和谐的内在理路：一是儒家追求的和谐是建立在伦理基础之上的社会秩序;二是在道德人心沦丧时,儒家“极高明而道中庸”,以道德价值的追求给人以心灵的安顿,使乐天知命、心灵争谐得以实现;三是天道流布,天德赋予人心,天人和谐得以实现。     

从脑生与脑死之标准看治疗性克隆的理据

从伦理学意义上讲,人始于脑生之后(即受精卵发育10周时脑功能启动之后),终于脑死之时。伦理学意义上的人的特点是拥有感受性,感受性的存在是其享有完整的道德地位以及人们可以对他进行道德评价的前提条件。这样,以脑生/脑死,换句话说以感受性的存在与否为标准,人就可以分成两类:一是生前之人和死后之人,二是普通的人(亦可称为伦理人)。生前之人和死后之人尽管也是人,但因不具备感知能力而难以享有与普通的人同等的道德地位。在发生权益冲突之时,生前之人与死后之人要让位于拥有感受性、因而享有更高道德地位的普通人(伦理人)。这一点不仅为堕胎,而且也为治疗性克隆提供了重要理据。     

基于质量提升目标的学前教育督导伦理审视

幼儿时期是一个人性格形成与人格发展的奠基期,学前教育质量会直接影响人的一生。教育督导是学前教育质量保障的重要手段。学前教育督导彰显了办学行为评价的公正性,关乎教育资源的公正分配,涉及学前教育关联主体的利益保障。以质量提升为目标的教育督导应以伦理和道德精神为底蕴,指向社会共同体的公平、正义范畴。通过对学前教育督导面临的功利性、正当性和公平性的道德考量,可以看出其在人们的伦理期待中应具有公平、正义、效率、平等的特征。学前教育质量督导的伦理建设应该包括:浸润伦理关怀,拓展伦理交往空间,增强伦理自觉,实现教育正义。     

法哲学视域下黑格尔“真实的良心”伦理解读

在黑格尔的法哲学体系中,良心在道德阶段和伦理阶段有着"形式的良心"和"真实的良心"的本质区别。道德阶段的"形式的良心"是个体纯粹抽象的主观自我确信,自我意识在缺乏绝对反思的情况下容易使良心转向作恶的待发点上。而伦理阶段的"真实的良心"是以善为普遍化要求的一种伦理设计和价值追求,规定着道德主体相应的客观行动标准和义务要求,能够避免良心走向恶的可能性。当"真实的良心"真正具有伦理性性格时,自在自为的善和自由就会实现,而现实的伦理精神就会以客观的、普遍的伦理实体定在——家庭、公民社会和国家彰显出来,真正实现了伦理对道德的价值超越。     

营造青少年成长的良好道德环境

青少年时期是世界观、人生观、价值观及道德品质形成和发展的关键时期,加强对青少年的道德教育,提高他们的思想道德素质,具有重要的战略意义。而良好的道德环境则是青少年健康成长的必要条件。为此,家庭、学校和社会这三方面必须密切配合,共同担负起培养年轻一代的任务。     

藏族伦理思想和道德观念纵向发展观

藏族是一个富有道德感和道德传统的民族,在长期的生产实践和社会活动中形成并发展了具有本民族特点的伦理思想。藏族伦理思想是指藏族历史上各种伦理思想和道德观念的总称,既是藏族文化和藏族人民精神生活中的重要内容,也是中国伦理思想的重要组成部分。发掘、整理、研究藏族的伦理思想和道德观念,对于加强藏族地区的道德建设,弘扬民族文化,提高民族素质,培养有理想、有道德、有文化、有纪律的时代新人,增进民族间的相互了解和思想文化交流,加强民族团结,密切民族关系,从而促进社会主义现代化建设事业的发展,全面建设小康社会,开创中国特色社会主义事业新局面,充实、丰富和完善中华民族乃至于世界民族的伦理文化宝库,都具有极其重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

Using Discourse Processing Methods To Study Moral Thinking

A 16-year-old gunslinger named “Doug,” who performed nine drive-by shootings in his hometown of Omaha in 1 year, considers the films South Central and Boyz'n the Hood to be affirmations of his aspirations and lifestyle (Hull, 1993). In contrast, most viewers of these films absorbed explicit lessons about which behaviors and life choices to avoid. What are the factors that lead to these radically different understandings of the same video text? Why are the “take-home” moral lessons so distinct? Combining methods and theory from two research areas—discourse comprehension and moral judgment—a research program is summarized that examines moral thinking using methods such as narrative recall, multiple-choice moral theme extraction, thinking aloud while reading, and probing for inferences while reading on computer. These studies offer a new approach to uncovering how people process moral events in discourse such as written and visual texts, persuasive messages, and real-life events.     

论国家伦理意识与学校道德教育权威的重塑

丧失权威的道德教育无以使人信服,难以使道德和主体之间建立一种肯定性关系,更无法实现使＂在道德上受过教育的人＂名副其实地信奉并躬行其被教过的道德。道德教育权威的重构需要国家伦理意识的支撑。只有国家对自身的伦理本性加以觉悟和现实体现,才能保证社会伦理安全,才能赢得人们对道德权威的信任。只有正义不仅体现在个人的灵魂里,也表现在国家的意志中,个体、社会、国家才能在价值共识基础上建构道德意义的同一性,道德教育之整体精神才能得以确立和证明,教育亦将获得令人信服的力量。     

THE IMAGE OF THE HUMAN BEING IN ISLAMIC AND “SECULAR HUMANISTIC EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT

Our moral awareness directs our attention to salient ethical cues. This article discusses how mistaken presumptions about the ways faith can inform moral awareness can cloud our understanding of the role of religious convictions in public discourse. The article then explores how an understanding of the dynamics of moral awareness can enable people to ground their moral outlooks in their faith commitments while at the same time remaining open to dialogue with people of other faith commitments so that they are able to discuss moral issues in the religiously diverse public places (the public squares) of our global, postmodern age.     

公民的伦理身份及其养成

公民是积极参与公共实践、具有公共理性、承担公共伦理义务、促进公共福祉的道德主体,其根本特征是具有公共认同、公共理性、公共风范等构成的公共精神。政治是公民合作的实践体系,其目的是追求公共福祉,政治通过法治与制度实践,提升公民技能;教育通过学校生活形式,培育公民的公共精神。教育培养伦理型公民,才能把人的健全发展与社会的良好建构统合起来。当代教育需要走出对个人谋取市场化利益的工具性职能训练,在制度、目标、内容、结构的全方位改革中转向公民精神的培育。     

论柏拉图伦理教育思想的现代意义

柏拉图在《理想国》中阐述了其伦理教育的目的观、内容观和方法观,反映了其在当时社会变革时期对理想社会的追求。柏拉图的这些伦理教育思想,对同样处在变革时期的我国学校道德教育实践和形成和谐的社会与正义的人,具有重要的现代意义。这种现代意义,集中体现在其伦理教育起点对当今伦理教育的启发性、伦理教育权威思想在当今伦理教育中的可参照性、伦理教育策略在当今伦理教育实践中的可借鉴性等方面。     

The Intersection Between Deep Moral Frames and Rhetorical Style in the Struggle over U.S. Immigration Reform

This essay highlights and explores a point of tension between theoretical writings on style and moral frames. Past political communication scholarship points to the importance of the feminine style in today's televisual era of politics. In this same political era, the conservative strict parent moral frame has dominated most policy debates. Surprisingly, this highly successful moral frame appears squarely at odds with the feminine style so closely connected with political success. This essay attempts to unravel this tension between styles and frames by examining discourse drawn from the 2007 debate over comprehensive immigration reform. To account for the success of conservative messages within this debate, this essay both (a) calls into question the nature of the relationship between the television medium and the feminine style and (b) expands our understanding of the discursive operation of deep moral frames by drawing a distinction between intra-familial and extra-familial policy discourse.     

美国现代工业文明的一曲凄婉悲歌——《欲望号街车》布兰奇疯癫命运再解读

《欲望号街车》中对布兰奇疯癫的命名,纠葛着强势的男权话语,美国工业社会的道德伦理观念渗透进了社会存在的所有层面。在文化转型时代,布兰奇难以适应新的道德价值观念,沉溺于过去旧南方的价值标准,从而在转型社会中屡受打击、迷失自我,最终走向毁灭,布兰奇的悲剧是时代的悲剧。     

被推迟的道德判决——论《洛丽塔》伦理取位的模糊性生成

《洛丽塔》道德品质评判取决于现实阅读者的伦理取位。通过回顾性的第一人称叙述,《洛丽塔》将叙述自我和经验自我进行了分离。在《引子》中的预设读者与《谈谈一本名叫〈洛丽塔〉的书》中真实作者的两种身份,更使读者的伦理取位出现了两难的局面。叙述自我、经验自我、阅读自我、写作自我的多重生命感觉在话语中交织,在冲突中生成,伦理取位呈现模糊性。现实的读者遭遇伦理取位的困境,道德判决在话语世界中被推迟。