Abstract

Practical and theoretical shortcomings of an approach to moral education based on the development of moral reasoning are noted and the alternative of promiting the virtues is considered. The identification of apprpriate virtues with modes of commitment and conduct supportive of a particular way of life is held to raise the further question of why a particular way of life should be favored, and how our own way of life should e characterized. This latter, permitting social and geographical mobility, anonymity and value pluralism, is contrasted with that of small, more traditional communities paradigmatic of communitarian ethics. an ethic of respect for equal freedom is held to be compatible with the current nature of society and to be favored by the virtue of appropriate self-assertion. The educational implications of such a conclusion are explored