Character Education and the Instability of Virtue

Autor/in	Smith, Richard
Titel	Character Education and the Instability of Virtue
Quelle	In: Journal of Philosophy of Education, 56 (2022) 6, S.889-898 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Smith, Richard)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0309-8249
DOI	10.1111/1467-9752.12692
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Values Education; Government School Relationship; Philosophy; Educational Practices; Educational Theories; United Kingdom (England) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Werterziehung; Philosophie; Bildungspraxis; Educational theory; Theory of education; Bildungstheorie
Abstract	Character education in schools in England is flourishing. I give many examples of the enthusiasm for it as well as drawing attention to the UK government's new ambivalence towards it. Character education seems largely impervious to the many criticisms to which it has been subjected. I touch on these only briefly as my focus is on a criticism that has received little coverage. This is because the virtues on offer are unstable. They are best understood as sites on which we contest our understanding of what it is to be a good person rather than reach conclusive answers. There is support for this argument in Aristotle, notwithstanding its many oddities and those of some modern uses of his conception of the virtues. The proliferation of the virtues in the practice and theory of education today is, I suggest, a sign of weakness and not of strength, while the very instability of the virtues demands that they be continually discussed and debated. This places them at the heart of any vision of education worth having. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01