Abstract

I have given some reasons for doubting whether a language of virtues can do the job which a publicly shared understanding of morality, in modern conditions, requires. It might be, however, that there is a particular role for the language of virtues where violence is the focus; in this chapter I shall consider that possibility. In the philosophical literature on moral education there seems to be little to draw on in this respect. That may be because writers using a language of virtues are interested in some thicker notion of flourishing rather than in establishing preconditions for a minimally good life; but the same point also illustrates the way in which some of the philosophical literature about moral education has become rather detached from certain public concerns.