Knowing, doing and the moral mind : development of a non-realist and non-rationalist interpretation of the meaning of moral knowing and its implications for moral education

摘要

Modern theories of moral education question the truth of Socrates'sudbelief which involves an idea of positive relationship between 'moraludknowing' and 'doing'. As a result, such theories divide moraludeducation between development of moral judgment and characterudtraining. However, the division of moral education invites a moreudpuzzling philosophical perplexity such as the denial of a relationshipudbetween 'knowing' and 'doing'.udThe study proposes a theory of moral education which dissolvesudthe philosophical perplexity, through a linguistic analysis of the wordsudwhich constitute moral statements and relying on an educationaludexamination of the meaning of 'moral knowing' which is seriouslyuddistorted by Socrates's inadequate definitions of the terms 'virtue' andud`knowledge' in his proposition, 'Virtue is knowledge'.udThe meaning of the word 'X' in the form of moral statement suchudas 'X is good', which is primarily fact-denoting, extends for itsudaccompanying meaning beyond that as delimited by Socrates and theudrealists. Accompanying meanings are moral notions but nondescriptive,udthough they may be in some cases symbolised roughly byudsuch 'notional words' as 'benevolence' and 'justice'. Contrasting withudthe statement such as 'Benevolence is good', which constitutes itselfudwith a notional word, the form of 'X is good' will be meaninglessudunless it is understood with moral notions.ud`Knowing' in moral education is not theoretical, having regard toudthe nature of moral notions. 'Moral notions' embrace both 'knowing'udand 'doing'. Therefore, education for the development of 'moraludmind' must not be confined to clarification of meanings of words andudratiocination of judgments; it should help pupils to perceive moraludqualities in situations where such qualities are deeply embedded and toudimagine the world as it should be from the world as it is.