On the ontogenesis of moral consciousness and some implications for education: A sketch of a theory.

摘要

The central question guiding this dissertation is: "What is it about the human mind that permits and obliges us to interpret our experience in moral terms?" Instead of asking what the good is or what is good to do, we ask why goodness is an idea essential to human thought. It is argued that this is because we are self-conscious thinkers, and in this can be found the origins of moral consciousness. By "moral consciousness" is meant those states of mind according to which one evaluates one's experience in terms, such as "good" and "bad," "right" and "wrong," and the comparative forms, such as "better" and "best," in reference to how actions are to be conducted and life is to be lived. One's moral outlook is neither preprogrammed into human consciousness as the mental equivalent to digestion, nor is it as transient as fashion trends. Rather, moral consciousness bridges the universal capacity for self-consciousness with the contingencies of one's personal history and the cultural norms with which one is initiated into a particular world view.; We begin by investigating the nature of self-consciousness by considering some views of Brentano, James, and Mead, followed by a review of contemporary theorists. In response, is proposed a theory called elementalist psychology, based on phenomenal, cognitive, and conceptual modes of consciousness. In this, we claim to have found an Archimedean Point for grounding morality in an experience of shared meaning common to all self-conscious thinkers, referred to as "intersubjective reciprocity," which is reflected in the grammar used to structure human thought and to guide our evaluation of envisioned experiences conceived in terms of the possible. Moral consciousness and self-consciousness share a common ontology.; Self-consciousness and moral consciousness are intimately and directly linked with the place of education in human experience. Education is described as learning transformed in light of self-consciousness. Moreover, that we are educable creatures means that we can view ourselves as "works in progress." Education is a process not simply of learning, but of guided "becoming" in light of moral consciousness, and in that can be found the foundation of moral education.