Changing conceptions of virtue in western education
Date
1999
Authors
Daniel, Craig
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Abstract
This paper attempted to sample the meanings, understandings, appreciations, and conceptions of virtue during four distinct historical periods. The published educational record of educational thinkers and scholars from the Classical Greek and Roman period, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and the Modern era in North America were examined. Commentary on the world of educational practice was made only if it revealed some aspect of a particular conception of virtue; educational practice itself was not a focal point. 'Through a process of critical analysis of scholarly writings, monographs, theses, and periodical literature published in leading scholarly journals, the paper came to argue that visions of virtue found in educational theory were influenced by the larger social and philosophical conceptions of particular time periods. Narrow definitions of virtue were of little use in the examination of such a diverse and vast historical record. Thus, virtue in this study was broadly defined as those qualities of character which educational theorists and teachers hoped their students would acquire through habit, training, and the inclinations of their own natures.