Values, Virtues and Violence

Recent burgeoning of interest in moral education and citizenship education forms part of the background to this volume.

The title takes us a long way from some of the older approaches to moral education which saw children's moral universe rather in terms of overdue library books or inconsiderate treatment of siblings.

Acknowledging public perceptions of our moral condition, Haydon asks: if this is how things are with our young people, what kind of moral education ought we to give them?Part of the background to this book is philosophical.

Many recent writers on morality have been impressed by the Aristotelian account and re-emphasised the place of the virtues in the moral life.

This does seem to put back something which had long been neglected.

However, it threatens to obscure the place in moral education of rules and principles, and it is a major part of Haydon's purpose to explain in what sense rules and principles are properly at the heart of morality and moral education and in what sense they are not.In addressing both public concerns about education and recent philosophical thinking Graham Haydon has done important work in philosophy of education.His book stands as a major contribution to the literature on moral education and should significantly inform public debate.