Education as Soulcraft: Exemplary Intellectual Practice and the Cardinal Virtues

Gilbert Meilaender argues that universities should eschew efforts to improve students’ moral character. I show that Meilaender’s arguments fail to offer any cogent reason for shunning university-based moral education. I then look to Thomas Aquinas in order to explain the connection between moral vir...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Floyd, Shawn (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2010
In: Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2010, Volume: 23, Issue: 3, Pages: 249-266
Further subjects:B Gilbert Meilaender
B intellectual practice
B Thomas Aquinas
B Moral Education
B Cardinal virtues
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Gilbert Meilaender argues that universities should eschew efforts to improve students’ moral character. I show that Meilaender’s arguments fail to offer any cogent reason for shunning university-based moral education. I then look to Thomas Aquinas in order to explain the connection between moral virtue and the practices common in university life. Using Aquinas as a guide, I argue that exemplary intellectual practice requires virtues that are subsidiary habits of the cardinal moral virtues themselves. The implication of this argument is as follows: students require scrupulous moral training if they are to engage in exemplary intellectual practice.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946810368022