Evil, virtue, and education in Kant. Issue 13 (10th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Formosa, Paul
• Is Part Of: Educational philosophy and theory. Volume 51:Issue 13(2019)
• Page Start: 1325
• Page End: 1334
• Publication Date: 2019-11-10
• Subjects: Kant -- Evil -- Radical Evil -- Virtue -- Education -- Moral Pedagogy; Education -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Teaching -- Periodicals; Éducation; Philosophie de l'éducation; Théorie de l'éducation; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 370.1
• DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2018.1487284
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-1857

Abstract

Abstract: For Kant, we cannot understand how to approach moral education without confronting the radical evil of humanity. But if we start out, as Kant thinks we do, from a morally corrupt state, how can we make moral progress? In response, I explore in this paper Kant's gradualist and revolutionary accounts of moral progress. These differing accounts of progress raise two key questions in the literature: are these accounts compatible and which type of progress comes first? Against other views in the literature, I argue that gradual progress through a change of mores must come first and can gradually lead toward, as its ideal endpoint, a revolution in our disposition (or a change of heart) and the overthrowing of our radical evil. This has important implications for moral pedagogy.