An Agonistic View From Nowhere in Moral Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 96
  In Roundtable Session: Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Curriculum, Research, Moral Education

Abstract

A common objection to moral education in schooling is that teacher-neutrality is both essential and impossible. This paper examines Nagel’s ‘view from nowhere’—his account of objectivity and subjectivity in morality—and then discusses impartiality and its role in justification for moral debate through the utilization of ‘epistemological restraint. When these are combined with ‘agonistic pluralism’ they form an approach to moral inquiry I call ‘moral agonism,’ which provides the space to confront moral questions and will not threaten the content of personal ideologies or beliefs, nor will it indoctrinate students.

Author

• Matthew J. Hayden, Teachers College, Columbia University