ABSTRACT

The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education offers the reader a comprehensive and authoritative account of both the theoretical and practical complexities of cultivating virtue in education and beyond. The book moves beyond the usual philosophical literature that merely discusses virtue in the abstract, and offers scholarly, research-informed suggestions for practice.

Drawn from a highly successful international conference organised by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, the chapters in this volume offer a unique insight into the varieties of approaches that leading scholars have identified for putting the learning and nurturing of virtues into practice. Featured are chapters from internationally acclaimed scholars primarily in the fields of philosophy, psychology and education, which are categorised under three headings: philosophical and theoretical foundations for cultivating virtues; developing virtues in practice; and nurturing specific virtues. Beginning with chapters that examine differing theoretical complexities of virtue education, the book then moves on to explore different approaches to nurturing virtue in the classroom and beyond. This practical approach is further evidenced in the final section, where individual virtues are discussed.

The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education highlights the theoretical complexity of putting virtue education into practice and, as a result, is of real use to researchers, academics and postgraduates in the fields of education, philosophy, psychology, sociology and theology. It should also be essential reading for educators in character and virtue.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part I|77 pages

Philosophical and theoretical foundations for educating the virtues

chapter 1|12 pages

Ancient roads to knowledge of virtue

The Greek philosophical legacy

chapter 2|13 pages

Healing character flaws

chapter 3|12 pages

Moral growth

A Thomistic account

chapter 4|12 pages

Stoicism today

An alternative approach to cultivating the virtues

chapter 5|11 pages

Akrasia as a character trait

An obstacle for moral development 1

part II|85 pages

Theoretical and practical approaches for educating the virtues

chapter 9|14 pages

Moral agency as teaching morally and teaching morality

A practical approach to moral education

chapter 10|14 pages

The link between fiction and empathy as a trait of moral character

A pedagogical legend?

chapter 11|13 pages

Manners and the moral life

chapter 12|15 pages

Policy-led virtue cultivation

Can we nudge citizens towards developing virtues? 1