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Can education be moral?

Can education be moral? Res Publica Vol.II no.1 [1996] by MARY MIDGLEY* There does seem to be something odd -- even comical -- about the idea of moral education; something that seems to set it apart from other aspects of education. When the British Education Secretary called on schools in 1994 to "teach children the difference between right and wrong", many people felt this oddness. Teaching that particular difference didn't seem to be quite like teaching other kinds of difference, such as the difference between wasp-stings and bee-stings, or between Hungary and Romania. Gilbert Ryle once wrote an article called "On Forgetting the Difference Between Right and Wrong" 1 to bring out that this would be a strange kind of forgetting ... But you can forget the difference between wasp and bee-stings quite easily. We will come back to Ryle's serious point presently, but it may be best to deal first with a smaller matter about the language. This talk about "teaching the difference between right and wrong" is probably not intended to have its full literal meaning. It isn't a matter of explaining this huge difference in the first place to someone who doesn't know that it exists at all. That kind http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Res Publica Springer Journals

Can education be moral?

Midgley, Mary
Res Publica , Volume 2 (1) – Feb 17, 2006
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References (2)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright
Subject
Philosophy; Political Philosophy; Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History; Political Theory; Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History; Ethics
ISSN
1356-4765
eISSN
1572-8692
DOI
10.1007/BF02335711
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Res Publica Vol.II no.1 [1996] by MARY MIDGLEY* There does seem to be something odd -- even comical -- about the idea of moral education; something that seems to set it apart from other aspects of education. When the British Education Secretary called on schools in 1994 to "teach children the difference between right and wrong", many people felt this oddness. Teaching that particular difference didn't seem to be quite like teaching other kinds of difference, such as the difference between wasp-stings and bee-stings, or between Hungary and Romania. Gilbert Ryle once wrote an article called "On Forgetting the Difference Between Right and Wrong" 1 to bring out that this would be a strange kind of forgetting ... But you can forget the difference between wasp and bee-stings quite easily. We will come back to Ryle's serious point presently, but it may be best to deal first with a smaller matter about the language. This talk about "teaching the difference between right and wrong" is probably not intended to have its full literal meaning. It isn't a matter of explaining this huge difference in the first place to someone who doesn't know that it exists at all. That kind

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Res Publica – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 17, 2006

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