ERIC Number: ED334258
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1989
Pages: 16
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Valuing as the Key to Education's Moral Concerns.
Jeffers, Hugh W.
A value-based approach to the study and application of ethical principles is proposed. After a brief introduction to the problems of the concept of value within the framework of ethical theory, it is demonstrated that values are epistemological predicates. This "predicate" understanding of value statements is used to critique a popular approach to moral development, and argue a more precise, yet generalizable, understanding of value language as it relates to ethics and education. The resulting moral development model has four interesting aspects: (1) the model broadens the concept of value to include interests, preferences, and desires into its repertory of meanings, and the model narrows the concept of value by excluding moral judgments; (2) implied consequences may not be the intended or real consequences of an action; (3) moral "universal values" are abstracts that must become the subject of predication before they can become active values and public reality; and (4) the responsibility of moral decision making is placed upon the valuing person. The result is a consequentialist approach to precepts and their application, with an analysis of preferences, motives, and reasons for particular choices. The very concept of ethics presupposes introspective and objective analysis and mastery of behavior toward ends that are edifying to the individual and society. (TJH)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A