Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of calls for moral education to receive greater public attention. In our pluralist society, however, it is difficult to find agreement on what exactly moral education requires. Philosophical Discussion in Moral Education develops a detailed philosophical defence of the claim that teachers should engage students in ethical discussions to promote moral competence and strengthen moral character. Tim Sprod carefully analyses 'reasonableness' and autonomy as key aims of moral education, and explores how these and other virtues can be enhanced through classroom dialogue. Paying particular attention to the teacher's role, this book highlights the justification for, and methods of, creating a classroom community of ethical inquiry.

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Table of contents : Introduction: As morning shows the day
Part I: Reason and Autonomy1. The ethical agent and reasonableness 1.1. Reasonableness and autonomy 1.2. The aspects of reasonableness 1.3. Reasonableness and moral education 2. The ethical agent and autonomy 2.1. Kant on reason and autonomy 2.2. Reason and development 2.3. Evidence from experimental developmental psychology 2.4. A reconceptualization of autonomy 2.5. Towards a new understanding of autonomy 3. Pedagogic action and the development of autonomy 3.1. Dialogical action and the classroom 3.2. Autonomy again 3.3. From foundations to moral theory
Part II: Moral Theory and Moral Development4. A target for moral education 4.1. Meta-ethical theory: monolithic or multi-dimensional? 4.2. Virtue ethics 4.3. Virtue ethics: benefits and drawbacks 5. Discourse ethics 5.1. Habermas and discourse ethics 5.2. A critical appraisal of discourse ethics 5.3. Discourse ethics: benefits and drawbacks 6. A meta-ethics for an ethical education program 6.1. Strengths and weaknesses 6.2. Discursive virtue ethics 6.3. From meta-ethics to the classroom
Part III: Discourse and Ethics in the Classroom7. Introducing the community of inquiry 7.1. The community of inquiry 7.2. Vygotskian learning in the community of inquiry 8. Development and the community of inquiry 8.1. The development of reasonableness 8.2. Ethical development in the community of inquiry 8.3. The place of the teacher 8.4. Indoctrination, ethical relativism, moral indifference and the path between them 8.5. Towards detailed practice 9. At the chalkface 9.1. The preliminary phase of the community of inquiry 9.2. The discussion phase of the community of inquiry 9.3. Classroom communities of ethical inquiry

Quotes

"His [Sprod's] book is highly recommended to all engaged in education from theorist through practitioner to interested spectator. I recommend it to all educational administrators, principals, teachers, teacher-educators, education students, and parents." - Clive Lindop, Critical & Creative Thinking, Vol 9 No. 2 Oct 2001

"For a forthright, critical and thorough account of Habermas's theory of communicative action and discourse ethics, I highly recommend Sprod's. It is the best, certainly the clearest, explication I have come across." - Clive Lindop, Critical & Creative Thinking, Vol 9 No. 2 Oct 2001