Nudging the public sphere: a Habermasian perspective on public deliberation as an aim of moral education

This article offers an account of the understanding citizens need in order to justify moral principles in the public sphere and it identifies an important role for moral education in the promotion of that civic understanding. I develop this account through a contrastive analysis of Phillip Kitcher’s conception of public knowledge and Jurgen Habermas’ Discourse Ethics. Kitcher is focused on the social conditions necessary for the circulation of scientific knowledge in advanced democracies; the analysis offered in this article expands on what Habermas and other deliberative democrats claim are epistemic conditions necessary for the construction and circulation of moral understanding. I use this account to critically assess public policy that aims to ‘get around’ public deliberation by using strategies derived from behavioral economics in order to shift civic behavior in specific (moral) directions. Finally, I specify how such strategies have the potential to undermine moral understanding in the public sphere and I argue for a central role for moral education in mitigating such effects.     

论哈贝马斯与罗尔斯对公共理性的争论

在理性多元论的情况下,为了使正义原则能够达成重叠共识,公共理性要求我们只诉诸于人们普遍接受的常识性信念和推理形式来推演正义原则。哈贝马斯批评罗尔斯的论证缺少一个公共的道德视角、混淆了可接受性与实际接受的区别,以及误解了道德真理。罗尔斯认为他的论证是一种理性的公共证明,而不是一种妥协,并且认为没有必要承认重叠共识的认知意义。我们认为,罗尔斯的无知之幕限制了公共理性,道德哲学不应该放弃道德真理的追问,哈贝马斯的道德商谈模式更能保证社会的团结。     

Introduction: Discourse Ethics and the Educational Possibilities of the Public Sphere

Jürgen Habermas argues that principles of justice should be decided through rational agreement as opposed to force or coercion. Christopher Martin argues in this essay that the success of such a project presupposes sufficiently developed capacities for discursive agency equally distributed within a diverse public sphere. This epistemic presupposition is not explicitly recognized in Habermas's current formulation of his theory and as such the theory implicitly excludes the interest that future citizens have in the development of their own capacities for competent deliberative engagement. Martin argues that this omission is serious enough that Habermas's principle of universalization (U) should be modified, and he articulates this modification in terms of a prohibition against “developmental coercion.” Martin concludes by elaborating on the concept of developmental coercion, and he points to the implications of this addition to discourse ethics for the institutionalization of deliberative democracy.     

提高大学思想品德教育实效性探讨

当前大学生思想品德教育面临新挑战,大学的思想品德教育实效性亟待加强,而问题的关键在于如何调动学生主动性和能动性,真正做到“以人为本”,真正且切实联系学生发展与生活实际。     

Is the Virtue Approach to Moral Education Viable in a Plural Society?

Against the background of enormous interest in virtue ethics, a new trend in moral education has appeared. This new trend, called ‘the virtue approach to moral education’, faces a strong challenge. If virtues are rooted in and developed within practices of a particular tradition, how is moral relativism to be avoided? Ironically, Alasdair MacIntyre, the foremost proponent of virtue ethics, has drawn the pessimistic conclusion that a shared public system of moral education is impossible in a plural society like ours. This paper aims to challenge MacIntyre's pessimistic conclusion, and to explore the viability of moral education in virtues as a shared public practice.     

关于学校德育创新的几点认识

改革开放促进我国经济社会发展,引起人们生活方式和分配方式的变化,出现了社会价值现念多元化局面。学校德育应通过创新来面对挑战。学校德育创新主要应强化德育在学校教育中的地位;理直气壮的弘扬社会主义的核心价值观念——集体主义;联系学生生活实施德育;采取活动化的实践模式来保证学校德育的正确方向,提高德育的针对性和实效性。     

INDOCTRINATION AND THE SPACE OF REASONS

Abstract The “paradox of indoctrination” has proven to be a persistent problem in discussions of the cultivation of autonomy through education. In short, if indoctrination means instilling beliefs without reasons, and if children lack the rational capacity to evaluate reasons, how can that capacity be cultivated without indoctrination? Some educational theorists have relied on a transcendental justification of rational autonomy that avoids indoctrination, while others have accepted that some indoctrination is inevitable, focusing instead on defending acceptable forms of indoctrination. In this essay, Chris Hanks draws on a conception of rationality, mind, and nature developed by John McDowell to suggest an alternative understanding of the relation between indoctrination and autonomy. He argues that McDowell’s notion of the “space of reasons” defuses standard debates about indoctrination. Here, rationality is understood in both a naturalistic sense, whereby the development of autonomy is the process of being awakened to the space of reasons, and in a sui generis sense, whereby reason cannot be reduced to mechanistic principles or relations. The implications of this view for education point us to the notion of Bildung as the process that cultivates rational autonomy.     

Ethics education seen through the lens of Habermas’s conception of practical reason: the Québec Education Program

This paper examines the Québec Education Program (QEP), particularly the new course in ethics and religious culture (ERC), in the light of Habermas’s conception of the moral and ethical uses of practical reason. Habermas’s discursive theory of morality is used to assess the program’s understanding of what it means to be competent in moral matters. Specifically, the paper considers whether or not the program limits the exercise of practical reason to its purely pragmatic form, and the extent to which the program takes into account the intersection between the subjective and social world of learners. The Québec program serves as a context for thinking about the level(s) of practical reason an ethics education program ought to cultivate in learners.     

论德育中人的行为——高校德育面临的问题和发展思路

市场经济体制的建立和发展对高校德育的建设和发展提出了新的课题。在市场经济经济条件下 ,市场交易法则使人们更关注个人利益 ,更重视个人价值。本文从人的行为的角度 ,探讨人的经济行为和道德行为、个体行为和社会行为的关系以及对高校德育的影响 ,并提出了新的经济形态下高校德育的发展思路     

DEWEY'S THEORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC AND THE PUBLIC CHARACTER OF CHARTER SCHOOLS

In this essay, Leonard Waks reconsiders the issue of the public character of charter schools, that is, schools funded through public taxation but operated by non‐state organizations such as nonprofit and for‐profit educational corporations and nongovernmental public interest organizations. Using John Dewey's conception of a democratic public as a framework, Waks examines the following questions: (1) Are schools chartered and funded by government, but operated by nonprofit nongovernmental organizations, ever appropriate instruments of a democratic public? (2) If so, what criteria might distinguish those that are appropriate from those that are not? (3) How might public education be re‐institutionalized so as to include the charter schools that are appropriate? Waks concludes that Dewey's theory of democratic publics can play a useful role in thinking about how to balance the democratic benefits of charter schools for the various subcommunities of our society with the democratic requirement of broad public discourse and intergroup education.     

The Democracy We Need: Situation, Post-Foundationalism and Enlightenment

Postmodernism precludes philosophical justifications for democracy. This undermines the role of philosophy of education and leaves us with weaker reasons for educational democracy than we need. If the 'postmodern challenge' is as Wilfred Carr conceives it, Jürgen Habermas meets that challenge. His work rests on neither Enlightenment essentialism nor foundationalism. Habermas can accept and explain that consciousness is historically and socially situated in discourse, yet still argue to the possibility of emancipation. I defend his conception of rationality from charges of essentialism. Rational thinking can critique its own specific forms, so superior forms of rationality remain universalisable by rational means. A historicising account of such critique avoids situationist relativism. These considerations justify educational democracy and preserve a role for philosophy of education.     

THE “NEW” SOCIAL HISTORY AND THE HISTORY OF MORAL EDUCATION

The rise of mass education systems in 19th‐century Europe and North America was often followed by establishment of programmes of compulsory moral/civic instruction. Few of the “new” social history's techniques have been applied to the latter phenomenon, although those techniques have produced broad reassessments of public education.

Using the example of France at the turn of the twentieth century, this paper offers such an application. It shows how a social history of moral/civic education would lend itself to comparative historical research, help our understanding of the roots of public social policy, throw new light on the question of social class, and invite reformulation of traditional administrative and intellectual history of education. The closing section outlines possible avenues of research, and offers bibliographical guidance on the development of moral/civic education in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.     

Learning progressions: significant promise, significant challenge

Over the past five years or so, the concept of alearning progression has gained traction in the United States (US) science education community. Learning progressions have been touted as a means of addressing a number of vexing and persistent problems facing science education in the US (and around the world). In particular, there is great excitement over the potential of learning progressions to provide much needed coherence to standards, curricula, and assessments. Although relatively new, this promising approach is already having a significant impact on the landscape of US science education. However, there are also concerns that this influence may be premature. A substantial challenge lies in the validation of learning progressions—how to ensure that these tools, which are rapidly being incorporated into policy and practice, have sufficient empirical justification. This paper discusses both the promise and challenge of work to validate learning progressions for use in science education reform.     

REsilience,violent extremism and religious education

This article is an attempt to provide an educational justification for the British Government-funded project, REsilience, on addressing contentious issues through religious education (RE) which was carried out by the RE Council of England and Wales. A number of issues relating to the inclusion of religiously inspired violent extremism in the curriculum are raised – definitional, political and educational. A justification is proposed which focuses on human rights in two ways: the right to freedom of religion and belief and the promotion of pupils’ moral development through human rights issues. It is suggested that the work of the moral philosopher Kwame Antony Appiah with his focus on morality in cosmopolitan societies is relevant to this, and in particular, his concept of ‘honor’ which can be used by educationists as the basis for engagement with violent extremism and related topics in the classroom.     

The Capitalist State and Public Policy Formation. Framework for a Political Sociology of Educational Policy Making

This article argues that public policy formation cannot be understood without a consistent theory of the capitalist state and politics. This is particularly true with respect to education policies. Expanding capital accumulation and increasing the legitimation of the entire mode of production seem to be the principal roles of the capitalist state, a role that is in perpetual tension. Coming to grips with this tension constitutes a principal challenge for the state. Considering educational policies, programs and practices, to inquire into the reasons for the growth of a given educational level—how programs have been devised historically, by whom, for what purposes, and how they are related to the educational clientele that they are supposed to serve—is to ask for an explanation of the determinants of educational policy formation. In this article a framework for a political sociology of educational policy making and a set of hypotheses on the production rules of public policy are offered.     

网络时代与高校德育教育

随着网络技术的迅猛发展，网络已经成为重要的思想舆论和国际舆论斗争的新领域，同时它也成为高校德育工作的一个新的重要阵地，高校德育与网络结合成为必然趋势，对于网络环境下如何开展德育工作，将是每个从事高校德育工作者应该深思的问题。     

满足德育需求是增强高校德育实效的切入点

目前,改变德育实效性低下的状况,是我国高校德育中亟待解决的一个问题。提高德育实效性的基本路径是立足德育需求,增加德育的有效供给,使之满足学生的德育需求,从而增加德育实效。     

Satisfied Fools: Using J. S. Mill's Notion of Utility to Analyse the Impact of Vocationalism in Education within a Democratic Society

This paper proposes a new interpretation of John Stuart Mill's notion of utility, which is used to provide a utilitarian justification for an eclectic, rather than a vocational, education. Vocational education is strongly promoted in recent policy documents, which makes it important to raise the question of justification. Many existing interpretations of Mill's utilitarianism argue for a hierarchy of pleasures. Although this enables one to justify an eclectic education, it is an interpretation that could be dismissed as ‘un‐utilitarian’. This paper proposes an alternative interpretation of Mill's notion of utility as a hierarchy of preferences. Our interpretation not only provides grounds for justifying an eclectic or critical education, it is also consistent with utilitarianism as an ethical theory. The paper also shows how the resultant curricula will better support democracy and participation in civil society.     

On the Determination of Values: the case of F. R. Leavis

ABSTRACT F. R. Leavis argued that literary studies could provide an incomparable initiation into tradition and cultural continuity and a true liberal education by educating people intellectually, emotionally and morally. This paper examines Leavis's arguments regarding literary criticism's propensity to provide a test for life and values. It also examines the value system within which Leavis operates; and the relations postulated between literary studies, moral understanding and aesthetic experience. It is concluded that while Leavis's conception of literary studies is distinctive and valuable his argument is lacking philosophically and empirically, failing to provide adequate justification either for the supposed benefits of literary studies, or for charging the literary-educated with the duty of maintaining standards for society.     

Feyerabend on Science and Education

This article offers a sympathetic interpretation of Paul Feyerabend's remarks on science and education. I present a formative episode in the development of his educational ideas—the ‘Berkeley experience'—and describe how it affected his views on the place of science within modern education. It emerges that Feyerabend arrived at a conception of education closely related to that of Michael Oakeshott and Martin Heidegger—that of education as ‘releasement’. Each of those three figures argued that the purpose of education was not to induct students into prevailing norms and convictions, but rather to initiate them into the ‘civilized inheritance of mankind’. I conclude that interpreting Feyerabend's educational ideas within this conception of education as releasement lends a new coherence to his remarks on science and education, in a way that renders certain of his political proposals—such as the ‘separation of science and the state'—both more coherent and more compelling.