This textbook draws on most of the major theoretical positions but eschews the traditional, historical approach and the use of names and schools of thought as organizing devices, and instead focuses on the ideas themselves. In doing so, it exposes a number of common confusions and misunderstandings about morality, and presents a strong argument for some indisputable truths in relation to the moral sphere.

This book presents and argues for a moral theory which draws on most of the major theoretical positions to some degree, but it also spells out the limits and boundaries of a moral theory. In doing so, it exposes a number of common confusions and misunderstandings about morality, and presents a strong argument for some indisputable truths in relation to the moral sphere. Divided into four parts, the book covers the key issues within moral philosophy: part one provides a lucid and powerful account of the nature and limits of moral theory, sharply distinguishing it from religion part two outlines a positive moral theory by exploring the defining principles of morality and the reasons for being moral part three distinguishes moral values from others such as ecological, health and safety and sexual values part four is concerned with the implications of our moral understanding for moral education. While this book concentrates on argument and ideas, a commentary to each chapter provides historical context and contemporary reference points. It will prove an invaluable resource for students of both Education and Philosophy.

If the secular university by definition is non-sectarian or non-denominational, then how can it accommodate a discipline like Christian theology? Doesn’t the traditional goal of theological study, which is to attain knowledge of the divine, fundamentally conflict with the main goal of secular academic study, which is to attain knowledge about ourselves and the world in which we live? So why should theology be admitted, or even care about being admitted, into secular academic life? And even if theology were admitted, what contribution to secular academic life could it make? Working from a Christian philosophical and theological perspective but also engaging a wide range of theologians, philosophers, and religious studies scholars, Christian Theology and the Secular University takes on these questions, arguing that Christian theology does belong in the secular university because it provides distinct resources that the secular university needs if it is going to fulfill what should be its main epistemic and educative ends. This book offers a fresh and unique perspective to scholars working in the disciplines of theology, philosophy, and religious studies, and to those in other academic disciplines who are interested in thinking critically and creatively about the place and nature of theological study within the secular university.

First published in 1976. It can be argued that both moral and religious education are undervalued in schools. The author, Alan Harris, believes that too many people think of them as indoctrinatory subjects with moral educators’ telling people what they ought to do and religious educators telling them what they ought to believe. By a combination of practical examples of both good and bad teaching from the classroom and clear, analytical examination of what is meant by moral and religious education, the author shows that the object of both subjects should be to help pupils form their own judgements.

The book depicts a unique historical and cultural phenomenon, the philosophy of Chinese moral education, in an attempt to capture the essence of Chinese culture. While tracing the historical journey of this philosophy, the book rearranges and interprets the conceptual frameworks concerning moral education in various Chinese philosophical schools and religions. In so doing, it summarizes the ideas of human relations, man and nature, cosmology, moral virtues, and educational approaches, posing intriguing questions about how they have influenced Chinese characteristics, social norms, and value orientations. In particular, the book brings up discussions on the culture of family and state, the challenges that the philosophy had encountered in early modern and present China, as well as the prospect of regeneration of the philosophy and its significance for our world today. This is the book to read if you want to have a deep understanding about China and its belief and educational system.

A concern for the ethical instruction and formation of students has always been a part of American higher education. Yet that concern has by no means been uniform or free from controversy. The centrality of moral philosophy in the undergraduate curriculum during the mid-19th Century gave way later during that era to the first signs of increasing specialization of the disciplines. By the middle of the 20th Century, instruction in ethics had, by and large, become confined almost exclusively to departments of philosophy and religion. Efforts to introduce ethics teaching in the professional schools and elsewhere in the university often met with indifference or outright hostility. The past decade has seen a remarkable resurgence of the interest in the teaching of ethics, at both the undergraduate and the professional school levels. Beginning in 1977, The Hastings Center, with the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, undertook a system atic study of the state of the teaching of ethics in American higher education.

What does it mean to be human? The traditional answers from the past remain only theoretical possibilities unless they come to mean something to today's generation. Moreover, in light of new knowledge and circumstances, a new generation may call these old answers into question, and seek to reinterpret, or, indeed, provide alternatives to them. In the 1960s, the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council attempted such a reinterpretation, an aggiornamento, for the post-war generation of the mid-twentieth century by proposing, in Gaudium et Spes, a theological anthropology founded upon the ideas of human dignity and the common good. Fifty years later is an appropriate time to revisit those answers, and

Worries about the moral standard of younger generations are of all ages. The older generation tends to believe that the moral education of young people deserves special attention, because their moral development does not reach the level adults hope for. This observation does not mean that the older generation is necessarily wrong, but what it indisputably does show is that they attach high importance to morality and moral education. But, what characterises a moral person? What influences people to behave morally? What should moral education involve? Which (inter)disciplinary contributions are relevant to improving moral education? These questions continuously deserve the attention of academics, students and (professional) educators. This book is divided into four parts. The first part focuses on interdisciplinary empirical research about the reasons why people act morally and the consequences for moral education. The primarily philosophical chapters of the second part address the question what it means to be a moral person and the implication of this elucidation for moral education. The third part contains five chapters that deal with moral aspects of sex education and civic education. The fourth part consists of one chapter that looks at the moral education of students who will work in a pedagogical or educational environment, arguing that one’s moral development requires a lifetime commitment. This book is written for a wide academic audience. The collection of chapters will be of interest to pedagogues, educational scientists, moral philosophers and moral psychologists, and to both newcomers and experts in the field.

This book shares with English readers Chinese theoretical and practical explorations of moral education curriculum for primary schools within the basic education curriculum reform project since 2001.The book expounds this moral education curriculum reform and focuses on three main ideas: The curriculum’s aim is to enrich children’s experiences and reflect their own lives; the curriculum’s content is originated from children’s lives; the curriculum’s structure is developed from children’s learning approach in their morality and social study. In this book, light is also shed on how to construct moral education textbooks, direct moral instruction, and moral teacher identity in the perspective of moral learning; how to knit law education and Chinese traditional culture education in moral curriculum. This is the first comprehensive book focusing on Chinese moral education curriculum reform. It will appeal to researchers, research students, and writers of moral education textbooks. It is also suitable for teacher training programs to help future teachers learn about moral education curriculum and help them effectively design and organize it for children’s morality study.

A new account of a vital period in the history of ethics, focusing on the content of morality.