Abstract
Following the rise of virtue and character education, educational philosophers have recently given much attention to questions relating to virtue and the good. This, however, has not been paralleled by a similar interest in vice and evil, which, in this context, are examined only rarely. In this article, I use the work of the American philosopher John Kekes as a backdrop for discussing the role coping with vice and evil should play in virtue and character education. I show how Kekes’ assumptions that people have natural inclinations towards both virtue and vice and that evil and vice are an inevitable part of human existence lead to the idea that character education should explicitly discuss not only the virtues but also the vices, that it should promote self-control and that it should bring people to recognize that they have mixed moral inclinations. I then argue that even if we reject Kekes’ key assumptions, embracing these three ideas that attempt to provide means to counter the vices might still have marked benefits for character education. The article concludes by suggesting that while the ideas that stem from Kekes’ approach should not necessarily be embraced, the themes that they raise call for greater consideration and further analysis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Since the middle-ages the term vice is often used instead of the word sin to describe immoral acts of commission or omission (Schimmel 1992, 14). In this article, however, the original Greek and Roman understanding of vice will be kept. The term vice will refer only to immoral character traits or immoral tendencies and not to immoral acts.
For a more systematic discussion of Kekes' view of education see Kekes' "Pluralism, Moral Imagination and Moral Education" (Kekes 1999). There, however, Kekes does not discuss questions relating to evil.
For Kekes’ criticism of current moral perceptions see chapters 5–7 in the book.
References
Anglin, B., & Goetz, S. (1982). Evil is privation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 13(1), 3–12.
Baumeister, R. F., & Heatherton, T. F. (1996). Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry, 7(1), 1–15.
Benner, D., & English, A. (2004). Critique and negativity: Towards the pluralisation of critique in educational practice, theory and research. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 38(3), 409–430.
Blasi, A. (2005). Moral character—A psychological approach. In D. K. Lapsley & F. K. Power (Eds.), Character psychology and character education (pp. 67–100). Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Card, C. (2002). The atrocity paradigm: A theory of evil. New York: Oxford University Press.
Card, C. (2010). Confronting evils—Terrorism, torture, genocide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carr, D. (1991). Educating the virtues: An essay on the philosophical psychology of moral development and education. London: Routledge.
Cole, P. (2006). The myth of evil: Demonizing the enemy. Westport: Pareger.
Cunningham, C. A. (2005). A certain and reasoned—The rise and fall of character education in America. In D. K. Lapsley & F. K. Power (Eds.), Character psychology and character education (pp. 166–201). Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Dews, P. (2008). The idea of evil. Malden: Blackwell.
Hirschi, T. (2004). Self-control and crime. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation—Research, theory, and applications (pp. 537–552). New York: Guilford Press.
Ihara, C. K. (1992). Book review—Facing evil. Ethics, 102(3), 650–655.
Kane, S. (1980). Evil and privation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 11(1), 43–58.
Kekes, J. (1988). The Examined Life. Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press.
Kekes, J. (1989). Moral tradition and individuality. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kekes, J. (1990). Facing evil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kekes, J. (1999). Pluralism, moral imagination and moral education. In M. Halstead & T. H. McLaughlin (Eds.), Education in morality (pp. 167–184). London: Routledge.
MacIntyre, A. (2007). After virtue—A study in moral theory. London: Duckworth.
Manent, P. (1998). The city of man. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mckinnon, C. (1999). Character, virtue theories and the vices. Ontario: Broadview Press.
Midgley, M. (1984). Wickedness—A philosophical essay. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Milo, R. D. (1984). Immorality. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Murdoch, I. (1970). The sovereignty of the good. London: Routledge and K. Paul.
Norton, A. (2004). On evil. London: Routledge.
Nucci, L. (2005). Preface. In L. Nucci (Ed.), Conflict, contradiction, and contrarian elements in moral development and education (pp. 7–14). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Oser, F. K. (1996). Learning from negative morality. Journal of Moral Education, 25(1), 67–74.
Oser, F. K. (2005). Negative morality and the goals of moral education. In L. Nucci (Ed.), Conflict, contradiction and contrarian elements in moral development and education (pp. 129–153). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Parker, D. (2007). The self in the moral space—Life narrative and the good. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Rustin, M. (1997). Innate morality: A psychoanalytic approach to moral education. In R. Smith & P. Standish (Eds.), Teaching right and wrong: Moral education in the balance (pp. 75–91). London: Trentham Books.
Schimmel, S. (1992). The seven deadly sins: Jewish, Christian and classical reflections on human nature. New York: Free Press.
Statman, D. (1997). Introduction to virtue ethics. In D. Statman (Ed.), Virtue ethics a critical reader (pp. 1–42). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Steutel, J. (1997). The virtue approach to moral education: Some conceptual clarifications. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 31(3), 395–407.
Steutel, J. (1999). The virtues of will power: Self control and deliberation. In D. Carr & J. Steutel (Eds.), Virtue ethics and moral education (pp. 129–142). London: Routledge.
Steutel, J., & Carr, D. (1999). Virtue ethics and the virtue approach to moral education. In D. Carr & J. Steutel (Eds.), Virtue ethics and moral education (pp. 3–19). London: Routledge.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self—The making of modern identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ver Eecke, W. (2006). Denial, negation, and the forces of the negative—Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, and Sophocles. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Vetlesen, A. J. (2005). Evil and human agency: Understanding collective evildoing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Von Wright, G. H. (1963). The varieties of goodness. London: Routledge and K. Paul.
Wringe, C. (2006). Moral education—Beyond the teaching of right and wrong. Dordrecht: Springer.