Issue 2024/1
Editorial
Marvin W Berkowitz: Welcome to Dialogues in Education
Studies
Blaine J. Fowers et al.: Phronesis (Practical Wisdom) and Philia (Friendship)
Liz Gulliford: A Neo‑Aristotelian Approach to Educating Virtues with Reference to Gratitude
Elisa Grimi: Education Among Amorality and Immorality. A Virtuous Circle
Jasmina Popovska: The Teacher as Phronimos : Cultivating Phronesis in Teacher Education
Tonća Jukić: Moral and Character Development in the Context of Slow Pedagogy
Reports and Announcements
Martin Brestovanský: Key annual conferences focused on character education in 2023
Welcome to Dialogues in Education
Sanford N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education
Center for Character and Citizenship
University of Missouri‑St. Louis (USA)
As both a member of the Editorial Board and as a character/moral education scholar, I would like to welcome you to the new journal Dialogues in Education. It stands at an intriguing intersection.
One element is the hosting institution, Trnava University in Slovakia. They represent both a regional center of expertise in educating for human goodness and an emerging Western educational approach rising from the ashes of totalitarianism and seeking a better path.
A second element is the broader context of the global, and particularly European, grappling with how schools can be more effective agents in the positive development of youth and the future of our societies.
A third element is the tension between theory and practice.
Different scholarly traditions, especially regional ones, tend to skew more in one direction than the other. In my experience, Europeans lean more toward theory and Americans more toward research, which are but two examples of a more complex scholarly landscape.
This journal is born of a desire to promote the dialogue between theory and practice, but also between classical and modern perspectives. I welcome you to what should be a very illuminating and enjoyable journey of dialogue.
Character Education : Developing Moral Identity through Narrativity and Reflection
Faculty of Educational Sciences at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome
Abstract: In the debate on character education, broadly speaking, it is necessary to distinguish two sets of thoughts: the Aristotelian tradition and the Kantian tradition. These two perspectives have great merits but also have their limitations. Educational approaches referring to these perspectives are often based on a very fragile relationship: in the first case, between habit and behaviour, and the second case, between cognition and behaviour. According to Blasi, moral action does not depend only on reasoning or on virtuous habits, but it depends on the organization of the self and on a person’s identity. This paper argues that the integration of the perspective of identity into the theory of character education can point to further development of both theory and educational practices. To address this issue, the author explores the significant role of narrativity in the development of moral identity, drawing on the philosophical perspectives of Alasdair MacIntyre and Paul Ricoeur. The central thesis is that developing a sense of moral identity and moral character is deeply intertwined with the ability to reflect on one’s own life narrative. From this perspective, the author argues that in order to “self‑regulate one’s life” in the MacIntyrean sense and to “re‑configure the emplotment of one’s life story” as suggested by Ricoeur, individuals must engage in a continuous process of reflection, including a critical examination of their moral values and life experiences. The implications of this narrative and reflexive approach for educational practices are discussed, with a focus on how educators can facilitate identity formation and moral development.
Keywords: Character education, moral identity, narrativity, reflection.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
Phronesis (Practical Wisdom) and Philia (Friendship)
Department of Educational and Psychological Studies University of Miami
Abstract: In Aristotle’s ethics, friendship is a complex and nuanced construct, which he termed philia. Aristotle’s philia is much broader than affinity‑based peer relationships, as friendship is often conceived currently. He identified three types of friendship (utility, pleasure, and character), and he devoted approximately 20% of the Nicomachean Ethics to friendship. This is because close personal relationships and developing oneself as a character friend are extremely important to living well as a human. This centrality makes character or virtue friendship distinctive and highly valuable. We apply the construct of phronesis to philia to reveal important aspects of both. First, we argue that situations common to character friendships highlight the reasonable limits of the emotion regulation function of phronesis in resolving seemingly intractable ethical conflicts. Second, we suggest that these limits suggest, counterintuitively, that character friendships (even among the most virtuous actors) are still subject, under some conditions, to substantial feelings of conflict and emotional ambivalence.
Keywords: Phronesis, practical wisdom, philia, friendship, neo‑Aristotelian.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
Neo‑Aristotelian Approach to Educating Virtues with Reference to Gratitude
Associate Professor, School of Education, Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues, University of Birmingham, UK
Abstract: A neo‑Aristotelian approach to educating virtue – and more specifically the virtue of gratitude – will first require a degree of familiarity with key Aristotelian concepts. In the first part of this paper, the concept of ‘phronesis’ (φρόνησις, or practical wisdom), and the doctrine of ‘The Golden Mean’ will be discussed in relation to Aristotle’s understanding of virtues. Having laid the conceptual ground, the paper will proceed in a practical vein by applying this reconstructed approach (hence the term Neo‑Aristotelian) to gratitude – a quality Aristotle did not himself identify as a virtue. Aristotle assigned a place to the thinking of both ‘the Wise’ and the ‘the Many’ (Aristotle, 1985) and this paper will follow his lead there too in bringing conceptual theorizing about gratitude (the opinions of ‘the Wise’) into dialogue with empirical research on gratitude involving the participation of ordinary ‘lay’ people (‘the Many’).
Keywords: Gratitude, phronesis, the Golden Mean, prototype analysis, MCGM (Multi‑Component Gratitude Measure).
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
The Return to Wonder : Education Among Morality and Immorality
Executive Director of the European Society for Moral Philosophy
Associated Scholar, Hildebrand Project
Abstract: In this study I present the topic of education in its essence, away from the two opposites, the two fires between which it usually tends to fall: amorality and immorality. We tend to confuse such opposites with one another. But what is meant by amorality? And what by immorality? Why is it important to offer a non‑tendentious approach to education that takes morality into account? Following Dietrich von Hildebrand’s personalist philosophy, I will revisit one of his reflections presented at a Workshop he held in Washington, and which finds its greatest expression in his major work, Ethics. In his talk Hildebrand noted how there is “the tendency to eliminate the moral point of view in our approach to life.” He made this observation especially considering the attitude of many teachers in public schools and in high schools to oust the fundamental categories of morally good and evil and to interpret the world in an amoral approach. Such an attitude, Hildebrand observes, is not only mistaken but simply impossible, unrealistic. Unrealistic because it flees the “datum of reality,” and the issue of good or evil cannot be obviated. I will focus on Hildebrand’s concept of the “value response” and the “category of importance,” and then I will show that to educate it is necessary to approach reality without censoring its essence
Keywords: Morality, amorality, immorality, phenomenological realism, value response.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
The Teacher as Phronimos : Cultivating Phronesis in Teacher Education
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University – Skopje
Abstract: Neo‑Aristotelian concepts concerning education and phronesis has been developing in two directions: first, towards educating phronesis and the revival of phronesis‑inspired moral education theories, and the second, towards cultivating professional wisdom in the framework of professional education. Amidst the extensive and complex discussions on phronesis development theories and approaches and searching for suitable educational methods for phronesis development, both in students and in educational practice in general, there is a strong underlying affirmative assumption that the teacher holds an essential role of classrooms’ phronesis development. Although there is an extensive discussion on what phronesis means for the teacher, a less discussed topic is that of the ethical education at the teachers’ university. Contrasted to the strong conceptual support for enhancing teachers’ training curricula with ethical education, is its practical negligence; wherever this aspect is not neglected, it is not contributing adequately in enchasing students’ moral growth. This article attempts to examine the theoretical possibility for virtue attainment in the context of university experience. It will comment on the current curriculum contribution to the phronesis development in the education of future teacher. To that end, the article argues for a need for a humanities courses focus in teachers’ university education on the basis of thesis that education is a moral act and that phronesis is the virtue of the humanities.
Keywords: Teacher, education, phronesis, curriculum, humanities.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
Moral and Character Development in the Context of Slow Pedagogy
University of Split, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Abstract: Creating favourable conditions for one’s moral and character development, as key elements of one’s holistic development, is vital in contemporary pedagogy. Therefore, this paper offers a brief overview of different approaches to moral and character development: moral education, character education, and the process of moral competence development. Those approaches are further considered through the prism of one specific pedagogical theory, the so-called ‘slow pedagogy.’ From that point of view, the paper emphasizes the importance of ensuring time for deep learning experiences where students show curiosity, reflection, and collaboration and realize supportive relationships for learning. The paper aims to contribute to understanding slow pedagogy as one possible pedagogical framework which enables creating favourable conditions for holistic development of a moral individual who will be competent to plan his/her moral actions and act according to that plan in favour of the other in a humane and respectful way.
Keywords: Cooperation, dialogue, reflection, values, virtues.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: article
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download article
Key annual conferences focused on character education in 2023
Faculty of Education, Trnava University in Trnava, Slovakia
Over the past thirty years, character education has become a major topic of scholarly discussions. Thanks to the combination of several events, namely, establishing the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at Birmingham University, creating the network of centres for character education across European countries, and establishing the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA), character education has seen a significant increase in popularity in Europe, especially in recent years. Let us share our perspectives and experiences from several major conferences that represent the aforementioned surge of interest in character education.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: report
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download report
SOCEDU 2022 Conference Report
Faculty of Education, Trnava University in Trnava, Slovakia
In the post-Covid situation, international meetings on campus were made possible in a presentational way, including in the promotion and development of scholarship, research, and education in social pedagogy. Thus, on 16 June 2022, the International Scientific Conference SOCEDU 2022, entitled Retrospectives, Present and Perspectives of Social Pedagogy, could take place at the Faculty of Education of the University of Trnava in Trnava. The conference was held on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the modern University of Trnava and the 20th anniversary of the existence of an independent study programme of social pedagogy and education at the Department of Educational Studies.
ISSN: 2989‑3577
Source Type: journal
Document Type: report
Article language: English
Paper fulltext: download report