Why the development of character should be a central aim of school education

摘要

What is character and what should its place be in school education? This thesisudexamines these two fundamental questions, contending ultimately, that characterudought to be a central aim of school education. Underpinning this work are twoudpremises that are clarified as the thesis progresses: (a) the notion of character isudbroader than moral character and (b) there is a valuable relationship between theuddevelopment of character and human flourishing.udThis thesis contains 8 chapters and is divided into two major parts. The first partud(consisting of 5 chapters) outlines and considers various perspectives on theudconcept of character. It is shown that there is a range of ideas associated with theudlabel 'character', both in educational as well as in philosophical discourse; yet, thereudis a lack of consensus on what the notion entails. In particular, the contention hereinudis that the notion of character is not merely moral character, and a broaderudcharacterisation of the concept is one that is compatible with ancient philosophicaludthought (of Plato, Aristotle, as well as ancient Indian philosophy).udThe second part of the thesis (consisting of 3 chapters) endorses a broader notion ofudcharacter and deliberates upon its implications in school education, particularly inudrelation to the aims of education. I begin by delineating a broader characterisationudof character. Arguing that character should be an aim of education, I examine otherudprominent candidates (autonomy and wellbeing) in order to assess this claim. Inudparticular, I argue that character is intrinsic to an individual's wellbeing (which hasudrecently been advocated as a central aim of education).udThus, not only does this thesis shed light on the concept of character, it perhapsudmore importantly, reveals the necessity of this concept for school education.