Clipping our dogmatic wings: The role of religion’s Parerga in our moral education

Abstract

In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This paper is skeptical of Kant's view. It proposes an alternative account, according to which the parerga are essential to our moral education, since they force human reason to confront its own limitations and resist the urge to take refuge in spurious religious beliefs. That urge, I argue, is linked to the propensity to evil, and uses religious orthodoxy to undermine moral religion. By clipping our dogmatic wings, the parerga encourage reason to face its own dialectical tendencies and direct its speculative interest to immanent practical use. This redirection counteracts the debilitating effects of the propensity to evil and plays a key role in our moral regeneration. To consider the parerga “derivative,” as Kant himself does, is therefore a grave mistake.     

Defining the quality of higher education around ethics and moral values

The context of higher education across the world currently presents evidence of university failures. These failures are evident in areas such as governance, financial and risk management, conduct of senior leaders and quality assurance issues surrounding international education. Having this in mind, the present paper argues the need to add a new definition (to what is already known) of quality. The conceptual approach proposed by the authors takes into account ethics and morals as key virtues of the higher education sector. The literature shows that it is still difficult to find agreement on a single definition of the concept. University leaders and quality assurance professionals define quality in many different ways. However, despite the ethical challenges in the current higher education landscape, little has been discussed on the connection between quality, ethics and moral values. Therefore, the authors provide the unexplored relationship between these concepts.     

Locally grounded,universally binding: The benefit of incorporating traditional care ethics,East and West,into current moral education

In this article, I am suggesting that one effective strategy for revitalizing moral education consists in incorporating classical traditions of care ethics, East and West, which are very much alive in contemporary culture, into sentiments, insights and practices of contemporary care ethics. In so doing we might make moral education much more accessible, natural and friendly to both teachers and students. First, it is associated with down to earth affective and relational elements rather than with highly theoretical philosophical reasoning; second, it is grounded in local cultural traditions that are very much alive in the ‘cultural DNA’ of millions of people in their traditional communities; third, in terms of its moral tenets it is humanistic and universally binding. The desirable outcome, if this model proves tenable, is moral education oriented by care ethics, locally grounded and universally binding.     

日本明治前期议会主义思潮的勃兴

明治前期,在西方议会政治思潮影响下,日本社会兴起了近代化的议会主义思潮。思想家们从各种不同视角论证了在日本设立近代资产阶级代议政体的重要性和必要性,并极力强调尽快在日本建立议会的迫切性。由此,引起了在日本设立议会是否紧迫的论争。通过论争,不仅使近代化议会政治思想观念深入民心,而且促使统治集团定下了召开议会的具体时间表。     

社会建构论对道德教育的启示

道德教育离不开社会环境和社会关系的制约,道德的建构与社会生活紧密相连,道德在本质上是从社会文化实践中建构出来的。社会建构论推动了道德教育的与时俱进,对推进现代化的道德教育具有重大意义。     

论高校德育与新型师生关系伦理

本文从分析当前高校德育工作中存在的问题出发,提出了建立新的师生伦理关系来改善德育实施效果,并在对高校师生关系伦理及其存在问题的解析基础上,阐述了如何构建新师生伦理关系,并说明了新师生伦理关系对高校道德教育的作用。     

A quantitative analysis of moral exemplars presented in moral education textbooks in Korea and Japan

This study is a comparative analysis of the characteristics of moral exemplars presented in moral education textbooks in Korea and Japan. The purpose of the study is to examine and compare moral values presented through the lives and stories of moral exemplars in the two countries that have moral education as an independent and separate subject based on the national curriculum. To this end, the study uses analytical criteria such as gender, nationality, social roles, historical backgrounds, and specific moral values in order to investigate characteristics of 307 moral exemplars in Korea’s and Japan’s most used moral education textbooks. The results show significant similarities and differences in moral exemplars between the two nations. In the case of the similarities, both countries emphasize moral autonomy and respect for human life. In the case of the differences, while Korea presents more historic figures as moral exemplars, Japan presents more students and ordinary people as moral exemplars.     

教育创新必须德育先行

创新是国家兴旺发达的不竭动力。中国的发展在于创新,而创新的基础在于教育。其中德育创新是教育创新的首要问题。教育创新必须“德育先行”。     

当代日本中、小学道德教育实践研究的特色

20世纪80年代以来,日本的中、小学道德教育实践研究呈现出良好的发展态势。当代日本中、小学道德教育实践研究的特色主要是“注重运用道德教学理论的新成果”、“注重根据道德教育改革的精神进行实践研究”和“注重探索道德教育的各种途径”等三个方面。     

Mapping the moral assumptions of multi-faith religious education

ABSTRACT

When Religious Education (RE) in England and Wales transitioned from Christian confessionalism to a multi-faith approach in the latter half of the twentieth century, the subject’s moral aims were reasserted. In this article, we explore the moral assumptions of this transformation and map some of their connections to other theological and ethical ideas. Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari’s metaphor of a rhizome, we make two novel contributions to scholarship in this regard. First, through some salient examples we show the connections between the moral aims of multi-faith RE and the assumptions of Kantian moral religion. The second contribution, building on this analysis, identifies three moral justifications of multi-faith RE: universalist (founded on assumptions of moral universals across religions), vicarious (the support of a religious worldview by using other religions’ moral teachings) and instrumentalist (a moral justification based on the supposed extrinsic benefits of studying religions). We then go onto consider how these assumptions may differ from the moral commitments of the religions they appropriate, suggesting they disrupt and recombine theocentric concepts into pedagogic ones.     

浅析传统道德在师范院校德育中的作用

师范院校是培养教师的摇篮,是教师职业道德教育的始发站。教师的言行对学生具有强烈的示范性,教师素质如何将直接影响到学生的身心健康和发展,甚至影响到整个社会经济的发展。大学师范生思想道德发展,成为现代社会关注的焦点。中国传统道德蕴涵着丰厚的道德教育资源,对于改进和完善师范院校大学生的道德教育有重要现实意义。本文在认真调研当代师范大学生道德现状的基础上,结合传统道德思想的现代教育功能,对师范生德育工作中的教育方法进行了归纳。     

明治期间日本汉语教科书中的北京话口语词

明治时期日本的汉语教学已经转为北京官话口语的新阶段，并产生了系列新教材，这些教材揭示了清末民初北京口语的面貌，是研究北京方言词汇史的重要资料。教材文献中的口语词表现灵活：同音异写，多音变，多衬字，具有浓厚的北京地方色彩，可以看作是北京话的特征词。它们为系统研究北京口语词提供了早期的书面例证，对编撰北京口语（北京方言）类词典极具价值。这些口语词产生时代不一，大多是清代中后期出现的，并在今天的北京话中留存．部分已经进入普通话中。     

公民道德教育中国家伦理实现的三种方式

国家伦理是由党和国家倡导、提出的道德体系，公民道德建设本质上是公民道德对国家伦理的最大化实现。在公民道德教育实践中，国家伦理可以有三种实现方式即强道德意识形态、弱道德意识形态、潜道德意识形态。有时这些内容是综合运用于道德教育之中的。     

Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education

The author reviews a set of articles on ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education previously published by Teaching and Teacher Education. Comparisons are made and a summary of findings offered.     

EPIC: a framework for using video games in ethics education

Ethics education can potentially be supplemented through the use of video games. This article proposes a novel framework (Ethics Practice and Implementation Categorization [EPIC] Framework), which helps educators choose games to be used for ethics education purposes. The EPIC Framework is derived from a number of classic moral development, learning, and ethical decision-making models, including frameworks and theories associated with games and ethics, as well as prior empirical and theoretical research literature. The EPIC Framework consists of seven ethics education goals (e.g., building ethical awareness, practicing reflection, and enhancing character), and 12 strategies associated with ethics education, which are also present in video games (e.g., role-play, modeling, and simulation). Each of the framework’s categories is described in detail, and the limitations of the framework are also discussed.     

佤族原始宗教与伦理道德的关系

佤族的原始宗教与其传统的伦理道德有着密切关系,伦理道德中的不少内容都是由原始宗教中的信仰、禁忌所构成,伦理道德的维系和传承也大多由原始宗教中的神秘力量来控制。在建设社会主义物质文明、政治文明、精神文明的今天,处理好佤族原始宗教与建设现代伦理道德的关系,对弘扬佤族优秀的传统道德,具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

对当前高校德育教育的反思

当前高校的一些青年学生存在着缺乏诚信、缺乏平凡就业思想的现象,存在着对事物缺乏批判能力与正确透视能力的问题,存在着缺乏为人服务的思想。这说明传统的高校德育教育存在一些较严重的误区。高校德育教育应多层次、多角度地积极探索教育新途径,寻找解决问题的新方法。     

浅论高校德育建设的现状及对策

德育工作一直是高校工作的重中之重,但是由于某些原因依然存在这样或那样的问题。本文针对目前的德育工作中存在的问题,重点讨论了在当今时代里应如何加强高校的德育建设的问题。即德育工作应与时俱进;德育工作应具有针对性;德育工作应注重实效性;德育工作应具有主动性。从这四个方面上下功夫,从而培养出符合社会需求的人才。     

论明治维新前后日本对西方文化的大力吸收——尤其对社会制度改革思想的关注

明治维新前后,日本社会为了适应由封建时代向近代社会的转型,急需寻求更加先进的近代化思想文化.这种思想文化当时只能向欧美先进的近代化国家寻求.于是,日本掀起了学习西方文化的高潮,洋学在日本达于兴盛.除了大量学习西方科学技术之外,日本还大力吸收西方的社会科学,尤其注重对社会制度改革思想的深入考察和研究.这一切对日本近代化政治思想的产生乃至近代政治制度的建立影响深远.     

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.