An outline of an indirect method for education in virtue inspired by Aristotle

Abstract

This article focuses on the theoretical justification for an indirect method for character education inspired by Aristotle. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses a dianoethical virtue he calls synesis that can be developed without the need to expose learners to real moral situations that compromise them, as it is not a mandatory or imperative virtue like prudence, but merely a discriminatory one. Accordingly, the method we propose here is indirect as it does not try to increase ethical virtues by planning opportunities for moral action by the students, but rather by encouraging the development of their moral criteria, which for Aristotle is not a fixed rule of right actions but rather a habit developed in which the frameworks by which human affairs are judged are enriched thanks particularly to education based on morally meaningful stories and fables.

This is the English version of an article originally printed in Spanish in issue 274 of the revista española de pedagogía. For this reason, the abbreviation EV has been added to the page numbers. Please, cite this article as follows: Pérez Guerrero, J. (2019). Justificación de un método indirecto para la educación de la virtud inspirado en Aristóteles | An outline of an indirect method for education in virtue inspired by Aristotle. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77 (274), 385-401. doi: 10.22550/REP77-3-2019-01

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Author Biography

Javier Pérez Guerrero has a doctorate in philosophy from the Universidad de Navarra. He has worked at the Universidad de Navarra and the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education of the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja. His lines of research are the philosophy of education, anthropology and the theory of knowledge.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0378-1060

Citación recomendada | Recommended citation

Guerrero, J. P. (2019) . An outline of an indirect method for education in virtue inspired by Aristotle. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77(274). https://www.revistadepedagogia.org/rep/vol77/iss274/15