ABSTRACT Psychologists have broadly conceptualized moral identity as the degree to which one prioritizes and defines oneself in terms of moral goals, values, and commitments. We offer a new moral identity measure: one that integrates philosophical ethical theory with an Eriksonian identity perspective specific to adolescence and emerging adulthood. Participants completed our new measure along with four other measures of moral behaviors and motivations. Participants formed unique clusters based on choosing Thomistic virtues versus choosing non-virtues, and the degree to which (...) they reflected upon and committed to their chosen virtues/non-virtues. We found expected group differences among the clusters in integrity and civic engagement motivation, providing evidence of validity. Our new measure offers a promising approach to moral education for adolescents and emerging adults. (shrink)

ABSTRACT One hundred and ninety-eight hours of teacher-student interactions following transgressions in 109 early childhood classrooms in Colombia were observed to describe: the types of responses teachers used to address students’ moral and conventional transgressions, whether those responses were appropriate for the type of transgression, and the type of reflection promoted by the teachers on issues related to the socio-moral domains. Findings evidenced that the most prevalent responses did not allude to moral or conventional issues, and did not include a (...) reflection with student participation. Practical implications of the study are discussed in terms of the need of more evidence-based guidelines and training for educators about how to promote moral development in their classrooms. (shrink)

Notable theorists have argued that theatre and drama play positive roles in the moral education of children and adults, including cultivating their capacity for empathy. Yet other theorists have expressed concerns that plays and educational practices involving improvisation might not lead to positive changes in real life, and might even have negative influences on actors and audiences. This paper focuses in particular on the dramatic methods employed by Theatre of the Oppressed, devised by Augusto Boal, and on the methods involved (...) in the development of the play The Laramie Project, developed by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project. It argues that Theatre of the Oppressed and The Laramie Project cultivate actors’ and audiences’ empathetic capacities, while overcoming many theorists’ worries about the impact of drama. (shrink)

ABSTRACT One of R. S. Peters’ interests was psychoanalysis. In this paper, I explore the relation between Peters’ philosophy of moral education and his Freudian psychology. In section 2 of the paper, I introduce Peters’ Freudian supplementation of the Piaget-Kohlberg model of moral development. To clarify the way in which Peters deals with two unresolved issues of this model, I examine, in section 3, his account of Freud’s conceptions of mental health and illness, character and the emotions. In section 4, (...) I bring to light the continuity between Freudian psychology and Peters’ levels of life theory. In section 5, I employ this Freud-inspired anthropological theory to elucidate Peters’ comprehensive analysis of the concept of education. (shrink)

ABSTRACT We examined the links between moral identity—the centrality of moral principles to identity—and political purpose during emerging adulthood. We analyzed data from two waves of a longitudinal study of civic purpose. T1 surveys were collected before high school graduation, and T2 surveys were collected 2 years later. We categorized people into political purpose groups based on the person-centered perspective and then performed a multinomial logistic regression analysis to test whether moral identity was associated with categories of political purpose. The (...) findings from our study indicate that moral identity at T1 is linked with the maintenance and formation of T2 political purpose. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study is an exploration of fifth and sixth grade students’ interactions with an online game called Quandary, a comic-book-esque game aimed at stimulating ethical decision-making. Building on the domain-based moral education framework, researchers designed and implemented a short-term intervention in three classrooms in which students played an episode of Quandary in pairs. Students’ pre- and post-test reasoning assessment responses were coded for reasoning levels and coordination types. Conversations between 12 student pairs were recorded during game-play. We coded (...) their speech for transactive discourse. We focus on two pairs of students that engaged in sophisticated transactive discourse; we discuss the potential of their interactions and demonstrate the potential of Quandary as a catalyst for moral discussion. Implications for informing innovative approaches to moral education are discussed. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The present study focuses on explaining the incremental role of emotion regulation and hostility in the tendency of young adults to use moral disengagement strategies to avoid self-condemnation for their immoral conduct. We aimed to extend the area of investigation concerning the moral effects of emotion regulation and hostility, by exploring the association between hostility and civic moral disengagement, and the moderating role of emotional regulation strategies within this association. One hundred and sixty-three young adults aged 16 to 30 (...) were administered a global measure of moral disengagement, namely the Civic Moral Disengagement scale, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Our results confirmed that cognitive reappraisal moderates the relation between hostility and CMD. We conclude that young adults’ tendency to reappraise emotional events, when conjoined with high levels of hostility, might enhance their tendency to build convenient moral justifications for their immoral conduct, which in turn might have significant behavioral consequences. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The changes associated with the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment moved the seat of authority from princes and bishops to the individual and made the application of rationality the measure of believability. This paper argues that the current period of socio-political and moral upheaval, triggered by disruptive technology, anger about corruption and distrust of intellectual elites, is resulting in a move beyond linear and reductionist thinking to an approach characterised by complexity, and from rationalism to relational thinking. Some implications for (...) public morality are identified and discussed. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of educators in our current environment, where truth and truthfulness must fight their corner in a world of ‘alternative facts’. The article opens with a review of the effects of the 24/7 news cycle on our sense of the overall well-being of the world, then discusses the meaning of moral identity and questions whether this is something which can be taught, and moves to a consideration of the role of moral mentors. The paper concludes (...) by arguing that the key challenge for moral education in the years ahead is that of critically training our students to see what is before them, to engage fully with their hearts and minds, and to be sensitive to what is absent – the interplay between presence and absence being the key to the creative functioning of the imagination. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The centrality of learners and their learning in contemporary educational discourse and practice, seems to suggest that the self of the student should be at the heart of the educational endeavour. This is not just an educational programme, but actually an expression of a particular way of thinking about human beings and their position in the world; a way of thinking which, after Levinas, I characterise as egological. In this paper I explore an alternative approach that centres on the (...) suggestion that everything begins with what is given to us, rather than what is claimed, constructed or interpreted by us. I explore this philosophically through a discussion of ideas from Jean-Luc Marion around the phenomenon and phenomenology of ‘giveness’. I connect this to a critical discussion of the role of learning in education and explore three ways in which teaching manifests itself as a gift that occurs beyond learning. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This introduction attempts to draw together the various threads which comprise this special issue and place them in the context of recent disruptions to the political order occasioned by the rise of populist politics, the resurgence of widespread racial tensions in a number of polities and the emergence of a global pandemic. Central to the challenges thrown up by these ‘events’ and a motive force, has been the incremental advancement of libertarianism with its capacity to disorient and displace a (...) more socially oriented liberalism. Together with a range of changes to our technological capacities these moves offer significant challenges to the advancement of a moral education that is sufficiently robust. The discussion moves from the development of historico-political readings of our present situation and challenge, through some important epistemic questions about truth-telling, integrity and sociality, and on to practical questions about the relationship between technology and personal moral capacities. This last challenge is explored with respect to the need to maintain the very analogue capacity of judgement in the face of a digitally mediated world. Moreover, this introduction also explores the structural and political challenges posed by narrow specialisation in the field of moral education, the evolution of bio-technology/materials and consciousness. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article explores the widespread use of the ‘lessons’ of the era of the Second World War in Europe since 1945. This usage proved to be a resilient element of European cultural values, especially in Western Europe during the era of the Cold War. However, with the emergence of a more diverse and pluralist Europe since 1989, so this form of civic morality has been replaced by new narratives of the war years, and of the twentieth century as a (...) whole. These indicate changes not only in historical perspectives but also in the structures of civic morality. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Social media is a key player in contemporary political, cultural and ethical debates. Given much of online engagement is characterised by impulsive and emotive responses, and social media platforms encourage a form of sensationalism that promotes epistemic vices, this paper explores whether there is space online for moral responses. This paper defends the need for moral engagement with online information and others, using an attitude entitled ‘critical perspectivism’. Critical perspectivism sees a moral agent adopt a critical eye, supplemented by (...) a caring disposition, when engaging with interactive digital media and the stories of others that are technologically mediated. Such an ethical attitude is required given our globally connected, technological world features new versions of recognisable challenges to democracy and the reasonableness of citizens. There is a vital role for educationalists to play in teaching and making space and time for students to practice being critically perspectival. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In the first 20 years of the 21st century, research on morality grew exponentially in social sciences and related fields. A corresponding upsurge in the field of moral education has not been observed. It appears that there is a widening gap between the science of morality and the field of moral education, which once were closely interconnected fields. The present paper explores why this gap occurred and what could be done about it. It is argued that today’s moral sciences (...) are markedly more pluralistic and diverse than moral psychology in the past. This opens ample opportunities for moral sciences and moral education to engage in a constructive dialogue. Specifically, an evolutionary-developmental account of human morality allows for a deep integration of both fields. Within such a framework moral education becomes an indispensable part of the emerging discipline of moral sciences. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Stories of civilization and progress tell us that humans cannot help being destructive, selfish, and aggressive, which are side effects of progress requiring sanctions and engineering. It can be argued that this approach has brought about the ecological collapse we face today. The older, more widespread view—that human personality and behavior are shaped by social support—respects the dignity of the individual and of other than humans, disallows coercion and expects high autonomy and communalism. The latter we can call the (...) indigenous worldview and is apparent among sustainable societies. To ensure the development of human beings who live cooperatively with one another and in concert with ecological systems, moral education approaches should restore the non-civilized, ancient practices of raising good children. This paper examines what moral education should look like in light of children’s basic needs and the degraded developmental systems children often experience today. (shrink)

ABSTRACT As teaching, irrespective of its geographical location involves personal relationships, all teachers are in some sense moral educators through the ‘hidden curriculum’, or learning which takes place through the process of being educated. However, teacher education in many parts of the world is increasingly preoccupied with content and academic attainment for its own sake, rendering it insufficiently attentive to those fundamentally human concerns that characterize teaching and through which teachers educate their students. This paper attends to those elements that (...) professional formation must include to support teachers as moral educators effectively, whether or not they identify as curriculum specialists in this area. I conclude by outlining three specific examples of initiatives which address current deficiencies in practical terms through reclaiming ‘leaky’ spaces within conventional pre-service programmes: ‘Philosophy for Teachers’, ‘Shared Space’ and ‘Going Global’. (shrink)

ABSTRACT At present there is a clear distinction between robots and persons. In this article I explore the possibility that this distinction may not hold in perpetuity, as some robots attain personhood. I argue that personhood is an emergent property in both the development of individuals and the evolution of life, that personhood may not require a carbon-based existence, and that, given that robots are being made with ever greater powers of cognition, at some point these powers of cognition may (...) reach the point at which we need to start talking of robots as having minds and being persons. This will have implications for how we treat robots, for how we design robots and for how we understand ourselves and other creatures. There are also implications for moral education that may need to be taken seriously. (shrink)