Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

ETHICS & MORALITY

One can judge a pattern of behavior as moral, amoral, or immoral only if one is informed about the context in which that thought or action takes place. ~ Howard Gardner, Extraordinary Minds, p. 131

On devient moral dès qu'on est malheureux. [One becomes moral as soon as one is unhappy.] ~ Marcel Proust

Childrearing is above all an ethical responsibility. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, p. 398

I think young children, even very young children, are at least genuinely moral agents. ~ Gareth Matthews, The Philosophy of Childhood

A child's naive question can awaken our sleeping imagination and sympathy, and even move us to take moral action. ~ Gareth Matthews, The Philosophy of Childhood

The law that is within us we call conscience. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

A bad conscience increases the weight of every other burden. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

A man may be highly cultivated physically, he may have a well-cultivated mind; but if he lacks moral culture, he will be a wicked man. . . . ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

Man's duty is to improve himself; to cultivate his mind; and, when he finds himself going astray, to bring the moral law to bear upon himself. Upon reflection we shall find this very difficult. Hence, the greatest and most difficult problem to which man can devote himself is the problem of education. For insight depends on education, and education in its turn depends on insight. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

In teaching, at least, the role of moral agent is inescapable. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning

Everything we do, then, as teachers, has moral overtones. ~ Nel Noddings, Caring: A Feminist Approach to Ethics and Moral Education

Through dialogue, modeling, the provision of practice, and the attribution of best motive, the one-caring as teacher nurtures the ethical ideal. ~ Nel Noddings, Caring: A Feminist Approach to Ethics and Moral Education

Any developmental theory that rules out, on purely theoretical grounds, even the possibility that we adults may occasionally have something to learn, morally, from a child is, for that reason, defective; it is also morally offensive. ~ Gareth Matthews, The Philosophy of Childhood

Philosophy is best taught when the issues of moral choice arise naturally out of the problems of social life. The effective integration of concrete materials from history, literature, and social studies can easily be achieved within a philosophical perspective. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. ~ Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, p. 156

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM