The Research On Herbert Spencer's Moral Education Thoughts

Herbert Spencer(1820-1903)was a famous British social scientist,philosopher and educator.According to the theory of evolution,he built a huge system of philosophy and sociology.His educational thought has great influence on the British and American education,and is spread to the world.He was called a monument by Dewey.Under the special background in modern China,with the social evolution theory has an important influence on China and the "social Darwinism" has a growing impact on contemporary youth and college student's value,this study tries to give a deep and systematic interpretation for Spencer's moral education in order to provide some enlightenment for our current moral education.Based on Spencer's original book and starting from his sociological theory,this study analyzes the social moral standards,ideal goal and the path of Spencer's moral education thought.On the basis of his theory of social evolution and the moral view of justice and sympathy,Spencer pointed out that education was to prepare for the full life of the individual.Moral norms enable people to better adapt to social conditions.Accordingly,Spencer regarded the compromise of self-interest and altruism "perfect man of the ideal society" as the highest ideal and ultimate goal.He treated the law of freedom as the first principle of the moral law,by which it can derive the moral category of fairness,sympathy,and self control.On the basis of his theory of social evolution,the moral view of justice and sympathy,Spencer points out that education is to prepare for the full life of the individual.While moral education aims at enabling people to follow the moral principles voluntarily and better adapt to the future society to achieve the greatest happiness.Based on this,Spencer puts forward some moral education methods such as natural education,emotional education and autonomous education.Finally,based on the the social practice of Marx's historical materialism view and the combination of the actual conditions of moral education in our country,with dialectical analysis of Spencer's moral education thought,this paper supposes that it can learn the beneficial ingredients from Spencer's moral education thought by regarding the respect,the cultivation of fair spirit as the core,and the formation of independentand autonomous ability as the basic requirements,at the same time,by combining emotion with reason in the process of moral education in order to cultivate qualified and perfect social people.However,it is also important to be aware of the historical limitations of the naturalistic fallacy,utilitarianism and individualism in Spencer's moral education.