This paper attempts to justify punishment on the grounds that it is a benefit to the person being punished. I accept the basic premise of a previous theory of punishment, the Moral Good Theory (MGT), which states that we cannot harm anyone. Thus, punishment can only be justified if it is not a harm. The MGT claims that punishment is beneficial in that it provides a moral education to the offender. I I reject the idea that punishment is morally educational and instead propose a new theory which revises and strengthens the MGT, accounting for its flaws. This new theory, the Social Good Theory, argues instead that punishment is beneficial because it allows a criminal to be reintegrated into society.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

Dorinis ugdymas, humanistinių vertybių puoselėjimas nūdienos visuomenėje yra vienas aktualiausių švietimo reformos bei jos plėtotės keliamų ugdymo tikslų, nes ugdymo kokybė lemia visuomenės raidą bei jos progresą. Ši tendencija suponuoja poreikį formuoti asmenybę, orientuotą į gėrį, grožį, tiesą, nuo mažens puoselėti meilę ir pagarbą, orumą ir teisingumą, pilietiškumą ir atsakingumą, kūrybiškumą ir siekį tobulėti. Doriniam ugdymui Lietuvoje nuo pat Nepriklausomybės atkūrimo teiktas išskirtinis dėmesys. Nors dorinio ugdymo disciplina bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje buvo iškelta į pirmą ugdymo turinio planą, tačiau Lietuvos švietimo analitikai vis dar nepakankamai skiria dėmesio dorinio ugdymo problemoms mokykloje spręsti. Diskusijos apie dorinį ugdymą, etikos ir tikybos pamokų bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose sąsajas ir paskirtį, vykusios praėjusio dešimtmečio pabaigoje, nutilo tarsi dorinio ugdymo pamokų problemos jau išspręstos ir nereikia atskiro dėmesio. Per penkiolika metų praktinėje srityje palyginti daug nuveikta ir veikiama: atnaujinamos etikos ir tikybos programos, rengiami vadovėliai, kvalifikuoti mokytojai, organizuojami seminarai, tačiau padėtis negerėja ir netenkina visuomenės lūkesčių. Vadinasi, problema pernelyg sudėtinga, daugiaprasmė ir stokojanti drąsesnių politinių sprendimų. Priežasčių, nulėmusių moralinį visuomenės nuosmukį ir abejingumą aplinkai, yra daug ir jos glaudžiai susijusios, todėl reikia atidumo joms atpažinti, išskirti ir veikti, dalį veiklos skirti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Moral education, cherishing humane values in modern society is one of the most topical goals of the reform of education and its development, as the quality of education decides the development and the progress of society. This tendency foresees the need to build up a personality, oriented to goodness, beauty, truth as well as to cherish love and respect, dignity and justice, civility and responsibility, creativity and ambition to improve from the young age. In Lithuania moral education was taken into particular account since the restoration of independence. Although the subject of moral education was put forward in the first outline of the curriculum of general education, Lithuanian analysts do not take enough notice of solution problems of moral education at schools. Discussions on moral education, connections and purpose of ethics and religion lessons in secondary schools, carried out at the end of the previous decade, became silent as if the problems of moral education had already been solved and they do not need any special attention. During the last fifteen years the practical side of moral education has improved radically: the syllabus of ethics and religion subjects have been renewed, textbooks are being published, teachers are being trained, seminars are being held. However, the situation is not getting better and does not satisfy the expectations of the society. Therefore, the problem is too complicated, many – sided and requires resolute political decisions. There... [to full text]

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This study examined midshipmen perceptions of moral development at the Naval Academy. Six focus groups comprising a total of 45 first-class midshipmen were conducted to discover aspects of the Naval Academy experience that have positive, neutral and negative impacts on midshipmen's moral development. Focus group midshipmen reported that good personal examples, open-forum discussions of ethical case studies, assuming midshipmen leadership responsibilities and participation in sports have a positive impact on their moral development. Parts of the Naval Academy experience that had a neutral impact on their moral development included some aspects of the core ethics course, the behavior of some of their peers, and the "directed development" approach they perceived in many of the Academy programs. Focus group midshipmen also believed that there were too many ethics and character programs, and that they were too repetitious and too routine to have more than a neutral impact on their moral development. Finally, focus group midshipmen cited bad example by some officers, the Bancroft Hall culture, and weaknesses in the Honor System as having a negative impact on their moral development. This study concluded with several recommendations from the midshipmen and researcher to improve moral development efforts at the Naval Academy. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Carin Fröjd (2017): Tension fields in the education about values in social studies. An interview with social studies teachers in secondary schools about their relationship to the fundamental values in the Swedish curriculum Lgy11. This thesis aims to explore how teachers in social studies understand the fundamental values of the Swedish curriculum for the secondary school (Lgy 11). Although there are several previous studies of how Swedish teachers understand specific fundamental values there are few studies aimed to describe a overall understanding of the curriculums fundamental values based on the teachers perspective. The purpose of this thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part the aim is to identify the tension that can exist between different perspectives in the theoretical and practical research on education of values and sociocivic education. The thesis identifies five central fields of tension that is recurring in the research. In part two the aim is to examine how social studies teachers in secondary schools report that they interpreters and relate to the fundamental values of the Swedish public school. The fields I then use as a theoretical framework for understanding the teachers statements about their work with values. The result of the study suggests that the teachers are well based in the Swedish curriculums fundamental values but prioritise some values more than others. Witch values that are prioritised is very different between the examined schools. Since the Swedish National Agency of Education recently have been addressing that it is essential that the education for establishing values should be seen as a coherent mission and not be divided into parts or specific problem areas, I believe this work may be a relevant contribution. The result shows that some areas are more prioritised than others in the schools and some parts seem to be less prioritised. The first part provide a framework that can be a tool for understanding witch parts that is prioritised and witch are not.

D.Phil. / Schools are sites of values education. This thesis argues that teachers need to be prepared systematically in a programme for the infusion of values into the curriculum. The inquiry investigated such a programme of teacher development in which teachers‘ participation was examined with a view of examining the design of the programme and to make recommendations for revision and refinement of the programme. The main research question that guided this inquiry was, ―How do teachers engage with the ACE programme and how is this engagement1 made visible in their practice and their discourse?‖ This research question addresses both teachers‘ understanding (personal meaning making) or ―internalisation‖ in Vygotskian parlance (Vygotsky, 1986), their transfer from their own understanding to action in learning environments and the activation of specific values that they hold dear. Ultimately this research question pertains to how design principles are activated in the programme for teacher development and also how they may need to be amended as a result of the understanding that comes from the inquiry. The object of the inquiry was thus the teachers and their interaction with this ACE programme, the design principles of which were the elements of the ACE programme that were ultimately examined as they played out in the teachers‘ learning and practice. I employed a design-based research process, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The sources of data included questionnaires, observations, interviews, journals and photographs.

Thesis advisor: Christopher J. Kelly / This dissertation is a study of the moral and political significance of the imagination in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's <italic>Emile</italic>. Rousseau attributes to the imagination a pervasive influence over human life, claiming that it "gives birth not only to the virtues and vices, but to the goods and ills of human life" and that its "empire" makes men "good or bad, happy or unhappy on this earth." The dissertation examines the ambivalence of Rousseau's account, and shows how the model "natural education" of Emile depends on the proper handling of the imagination to cultivate virtue and to secure individual happiness. After first establishing what Rousseau means by "natural education" and what its particular goals are, I turn to the threat the imagination poses to the success of that education. Rousseau's attack on the imagination centers on its power to open the human heart to infinite desire. By generating ever-new and ever-expanding desires, the imagination renders men necessary to one another, causing dependence, weakness, and, ultimately, wickedness, and unhappiness. As a principal agent of man's departure from natural self-sufficiency, the imagination is at the center of the process that transforms natural self-love (<italic>amour de soi</italic>) into <italic>amour-propre</italic>, and makes genuine human satisfaction fundamentally elusive. Following these introductory chapters, the remainder of the dissertation argues that, despite this critique, Rousseau in fact relies on the imagination in the successive stages of Emile's moral education to protect his independence and to strengthen those aspects of natural self-love (<italic>amour de soi</italic>) that lend themselves to the cultivation of the social virtues. Tracing the role of the imagination through Emile's education in compassion, justice, natural religion, love, and virtue, I argue that the proper habituation of the imagination proves to be indispensable for securing both happiness and morality, for defending individual autonomy in the context of social life, and for reconciling, to the extent possible, the private and the public good. Moreover, although Rousseau's recourse to the imagination might initially seem to introduce an element of irrationality into Emile's education, Emile's imagination in fact aids his ability to live not only a moral life but also a rational life. In a variety of ways, detailed in the dissertation, Rousseau employs the imagination and its illusions to forestall other more crippling illusions, to reveal the social world and the passions of men for what they truly are, and to make Emile both moderate and wise. Finally, however, while Emile's moral education engages his imagination in the most salutary manner possible, both for himself and for others, it cannot wholly prevent the imagination from giving birth to desires that betray a disruption of natural wholeness. While these desires present a complicated set of issues, in general, they represent the compromise with natural self-sufficiency that is involved in even the most promising moral education. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

The way in which Plato’s uses of myth relate to his theory of moral education and his conception of philosophy is examined. Plato’s use and conception of myth (muthos) is notoriously difficult to determine, however, especially because it is difficult to determine whether and in what way Plato wishes to contrast muthos with logos. I argue that muthos plays an integral role in Plato’s philosophical investigation and dialectic, and therefore it is best understood as a “guise” of logos. Myth is not a suspension nor transcendence of logos, as scholars have suggested. Plato uses myth when he is concerned with moral education, that is, the moral transformation of the reader and the interlocutor. According to this line of interpretation, Plato’s myths play a heuristic role in service of his moral pedagogical goals. I outline Plato’s pedagogical goals in the context of his theory of moral education, and conclude with some suggestions about the integration of philosophical myths in educational settings today.

This study employs a hybrid research method. My religious background has led me to find a great affinity for certain literary criticism, that which sees literature as a source for moral thinking and moral decision-making. I offer a history of my transactions with texts, texts that were initially formative for me as a moral thinker, then useful for me in a variety of ways as a teacher of texts, then which I later began to appreciate in a more critical and theoretical way as I developed a deeper understanding of how those texts had influenced me and how they had – or had not – influenced my students. I borrow heavily from the theory and method of autoethnography in this study, in the sense that I will examine a variety of “internal data” from my memories of books, teachers, and classroom situations, along with “external data” including interviews, report cards, lecture notes and exam questions, and will subject my data to a number of critical lenses with the goal of what Anderson (2006) describes as a commitment to “an analytic research agenda focused on improving theoretical understandings of broader social phenomena” (375). Using the lenses of the literary theory and criticism of Wayne Booth, Martha Nussbaum, Robert Coles and Aharon Lichtenstein, I will analyze my experiences as a reader and teacher, and I explain how literary works I read and taught can serve as vehicles for the development of a student’s moral sensibility – and how teachers can help facilitate that development. I use my own unique vantage point, that of an Orthodox Jewish boy who initially found friends in secular texts, then found that those texts were among his great teachers of values, to offer a singular perspective on the power of these texts. These lenses, which are (to mix metaphors a bit) filtered through my unique perspective, provide an interpretation that will at first lead me to explore the field of moral education as a whole, if only because I shared many of its desired outcomes in my literature classroom. After a brief overview of this field, I use the work of Hanan Alexander, David Hansen, Carl Rogers, and others to present a more general yet nuanced account of how “spiritual awareness” and the humane fusing of reason and emotion can be fostered in students, with a flexibility and understanding that learning is a way to learn a process, not a process towards a specific set of intellectual goals. I humbly call this hybrid method a literary-auto-ethno-pedogography, as I seek to produce a critical history of my education as a reader and teacher of literature. After an inquiry into my own reading and teaching to understand my own and my students’ development as moral decision makers; I then seek to expand the depth and quantity of moral conversations and bring them to the classrooms of others. As such, my study includes ideas for how to bring about moral conversations in English classrooms, both through student writing and oral exchange, based on ideas from Sheridan Blau, Jeff Wilhelm, David Hansen, Barry Holtz, and others. I conclude with the still unanswered questions that my study has raised for me and for other researchers who share my interest in the relations between secular and religious education and the problem of teaching literature to shape character and refine a reader’s moral sensibility. I also offer some concluding suggestions about how future students and teachers might build on and expand upon my work.