CHAPTER 26 Integrative Ethical Education

Much of the debate over moral education in recent decades has centered around the advan-tages and disadvantages of two dominant educational approaches to the moral formation of children, referred to as traditional character education and rational moral education. Traditional character education focuses on the inculcation of virtuous traits of character as the proper aim of education. In contrast, rational moral education seeks to facilitate the development of autonomous moral judgment and the ability to resolve disputes and reach consensus according to canons of fairness. The first approach, then, is concerned with the educational requirements that contribute to the formation of character. The second is concerned with the development of reasoning and autonomy. Unfortunately, the debate has often taken on an either/or quality that has obscured common ground and integrative pos-sibilities. In this chapter a third way, called integrative ethical education, is introduced. It offers a holistic approach to ethical education that, on the one hand, acknowledges the goal of cultivating reflective reasoning and a commitment to justice, required for the develop-ment of democratic communities and, on the other hand, acknowledges that the demands of citizenship in a pluralistic democracy and the ability to engage in deliberative democrati