ABSTRACT
The question of whether virtue can be taught is a very old one. Whether it is taught or caught, innate or acquired, is of perennial interest because, whereas if we set out to teach students history by and large they gain some historical understanding, when we set out to bring people up to be moral it is a far more hit and miss affair. Predictions as to which of our students will turn out to be moral do not have the accuracy that predictions as to who will progress as historians do. It may also be said that arguably some historical understanding is better than none, while it is not so clear that a partially successful moral education is of much use or even that the idea of it makes sense.
