John Wilson's conception of moral education: A critical assessment

Wilson's theory is placed in the context of the current disarray in theory and practice in moral education. Two competing and influential strategies for moral education, the Inculcation approach and Values Clarification, are discussed as a contrast to Wilson's theory, and the drawbacks of both are explored. Wilson's conception of moral education is presented as an example of the Rational Deliberation approach. This approach is based on respect for the learner as a potentially rational and independent moral chooser.; A selective survey is offered of published criticisms of Wilson's theory. Two lines of criticism converge on the idea that Wilson fails to understand the role of reason in the moral life. It is also argued that he stresses explicit instruction unduly while neglecting the value of example.; Finally, Wilson's contribution to the theory of moral education is assessed on the basis of answers to three questions. Does he emphasize the role of reason in morality at the expense of emotion and intuition? Is his formalist analysis of moral reasoning, based on an analogy between learning to "do" science and learning to "do" morality, an adequate basis for moral education? Does Wilson provide a complete theory of moral education? (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...