Abstract

This dissertation seeks to bring the perspective of philosophical hermeneutics into the discourse on moral education. The reflections are wide ranging and interdisciplinary. Philosophical hermeneutics informs the interpretive approach taken as well as the ontological and ethical perspectives. ;Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the problem of what kind of moral education ought to be provided in American schools and gives the historical foundations and political philosophical interpretation on which the work is based. The task of moral education for democracy is disclosed as the nurturance of virtuous, autonomous, publicly responsible persons. A project outline is provided. ;Chapter 2 offers critical reflections on the contemporary ethos. Scientism, individualism, and commercial culture are examined as phenomena that hide, and hinder pursuit of, appropriate educational moral goals. ;Chapter 3 is an analysis of the three current paradigms of moral education. The philosophical assumptions and pedagogical strategies of the values clarification, cognitive developmental, and character education approaches are examined, with strengths and lacunae in each highlighted. ;The next two chapters present alternative grounds, found in philosophical hermeneutics, for moral pedagogy. Chapter 4 discloses the ontological view that freedom, belonging, and understanding distinguish humans and make morality necessary, possible, and desirable. Chapter 5 begins with reflections on the moral philosophies of Aristotle and Kant and proceeds to the partial synthesis of these two ethics found in philosophical hermeneutics, particularly in the works of Paul Ricoeur and Hans-Georg Gadamer. ;Chapter 6 is a presentation of moral pedagogy that arises from these ontological and philosophical grounds. Early moral training emphasizes virtue, the capacities for freedom, care, and human understanding, and skills in moral conversation. Secondary education focuses on students' awareness of themselves as moral agents and of the lived world as a moral project. Experiences are suggested to enhance the skills of moral inquiry, discourse, and vision that contribute to deeper human understanding and fuller realization of moral autonomy. ;Chapter 7 deals with the preferability, necessity, and possibility of taking this hermeneutically grounded approach to moral education and offers responses to potential critics