Abstract
“Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?” Meno’s famous question still helps frame the contemporary debate over moral education, religion, and indoctrination. For instance, beginning with the assumption of the possibility of a religiously neutral education, Jeffrey Stout has argued that in pluralistic settings, the teaching and practice of virtue, i.e., moral education, must be secular to ensure that students are not inculcated into an exclusivist religious, moral tradition. However, in this paper, I argue that recent critical analyses of the secular, provided by Charles Taylor and Talal Asad, demonstrate that philosophies of moral education that strive to be neutral by virtue of being secular are problematic. Instead, I argue that Augustine’s Christian conception of virtue and moral pedagogy provides a more promising account of the teaching of morality in a pluralist context. Furthermore, I argue that examples such as Augustine give reason to look for further religious forms of moral education that have a broad and pluralist appeal than secular forms.
Presenters
Jeffery PorterStudent, Ph.D., Catholic University of America, District of Columbia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Secular, Education, Pluralism, Augustine, Taylor
