Explores the impact of biomedical ethics on moral education and on ethics in general.

This book benefits from the emergence of bioethics as it has evolved from its clinical roots to address policy, politics, and social practice far removed from that origin. It situates terrorism and bioterrorism in the field of ethical inquiry. Finally, it treats the catastrophic event as a category or genre and so enables us to enrich inquiry by ranging from hurricane and flood to terrorist attack.

2500 years ago, Socrates wrestled with the question: Can virtue be taught? And I’m still at it. I recall my experience as an Ethical Culture Leader, the head of the Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools, and Board Chair of the Ethical Community Charter School in Jersey City. Once more, I reflect on a life-long vocation: the problem of knowing, judging, deciding, and acting ethically. Can virtue be taught? Socrates answered “yes” and “no.” Figuring out what that means remains a continuing puzzle, (...) which inspired this article. (shrink)

This thought-provoking study examines the foundations of moral education from a philosophical and practical perspective. It analyzes some of the typical expectations that cannot be met in the present day approach, and recommends that the teaching of ethics be treated with `theater' as the metaphor, dialogue as the genre, and Socrates as the model. Seen as a necessary and unavoidable classroom activity, moral education is presented from a humanist point of view, with emphasis on the developmental approach of Jean Piaget (...) and his followers, while pointing out the limitations of psychological methods. (shrink)

...argues that Humanism has its roots both in the Enlightenment and in Transcendentalism, and explores Humanism as both a public and a personal philosophy.

An earlier version of this essay was presented at the Annual Retreat of the Ethics Committee of the South Carolina Medical Association. The subject was moral education in medical schools. A brief selection, “Creating An Effective Pedagogy for Moral Education” was published in the Journal of the S.C. Medical Association. The present paper examines the state of 'moral education' in contemporary education and other public institutions.

This volume clarifies the nature of humanism by exploring historical and current thought.