This book champions care education in early childhood school contexts, addressing the critical need for an effective and meaningful ethics education grounded in Platonic and Aristotelian reflections on virtues, and ultimately positing a theory of ethics education that connects ancient philosophy to contemporary care thinking.
This theory is supported by the empirical findings of the MelArete Project, a 10-year research project in care and virtues education that guides children’s attention to the concepts of care and virtues. Unique amongst contemporary virtue and character approaches, Mortari and her colleagues have developed a rich research base that combines recent educational theories with ancient and continental philosophy.
Ultimately arguing for an ethics education centered on care in the wake of our current ethical crisis, the book contributes to a growing body of literature on prominent virtue and character education programs around the world and will therefore appeal to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students working in moral and values education, ethics education, and educational theory more broadly. Care ethicists and early childhood educators will also benefit from this volume.
Introduction – Theory and Practice of Ethical Education Part I – Theoretical Framework 1. The Human Condition and the Priority of Care (Luigina Mortari) 2. Searching for the Good and Caring for the Virtues (Luigina Mortari) 3. Ethics of Care (Luigina Mortari) 4. Virtue Ethics (Luigina Mortari) 5. Virtue Education and Care Theory (Luigina Mortari) 6. Activities and Instruments for Educating to Virtues (Luigina Mortari) 7. The Manifesto of Care (Luigina Mortari) Part II – The Educational Programme And The Research For Children 8. From the Theory to the in Field-Research: Ethics, Instruments and Method (Luigina Mortari) 9. Melarete - An Educational and Research Project (Marco Ubbiali) 10. Dialoguing on Fundamental Ethical Concepts: The Socratic Conversation on Good and Care in Kindergarten (Marco Ubbiali) 11. Reflecting on the Essence and Learning of Virtues: Explorative Activities in Primary School (Federica Valbusa) 12. Reasoning on Ethical Dilemmas: Vignettes on Justice in Primary School (Marco Ubbiali) 13. Discussing on Virtues: The Game of Respect in Kindergarten (Marco Ubbiali) 14. Reflecting on Virtuous Actions: Diaristic Writing in Primary School (Federica Valbusa) Conclusion – A Theory-Driven Programme and an Evidence-Based Theory (Luigna Mortari, Marco Ubbiali and Federica Valbusa)
Luigina Mortari is Professor at the University of Verona (Italy) where she teaches Philosophy of care at the Department of Human Sciences and Epistemology of the qualitative research at the School of Medicine.
