Synopses & Reviews
The suggested working title of the monograph is Peace Education: Exploring the Ethical and Philosophical Foundations or alternatively Peace Education: Exploring Ethico- Philosophical Foundations. The proposed book would be a scholarly monograph based upon the author's PhD dissertation and, as the title suggests, the book aims to provide a philosophical rationale for peace education, based upon five traditional ethical traditions. Put simply, the study aims to indicate that a commitment to peace education has a substantive philosophical basis and that peace education is more than mere political correctness. Peace education is now well recognized within international legal instruments and within critical educational literature as an important aspect of education. Despite this, little attention has been given in the critical literature to the philosophical foundations for peace education and the rationale for peace education thus remains substantially an assumed one. This investigation explores some possible ethico-philosophical foundations for peace education, through an examination of five specific ethical traditions: 1) virtue ethics, whereby peace may be interpreted as a virtue, and/or virtue is interpreted as peacefulness, and peace education as education in that virtue; 2) consequentialist ethics, whereby peace education may be interpreted as education regarding the consequences of our action and inaction, both as individuals and collectivities; 3) conservative political ethics, whereby peace education may be interpreted as emphasizing the importance of the evolution of social institutions and the importance of ordered and lawful social change; 4) aesthetic ethics, whereby peace maybe interpreted as something beautiful and valuable in itself, and peace education as emphasizing the importance of that beauty and value; and 5) the ethics of care, whereby care may be interpreted as a core element in peace, and peace education as encouraging trust and engagement with the other. The thesis addresses major contributions to each of these ethical traditions, the strengths and weaknesses of the tradition, and the ways in which the tradition provides support for peace education. It is argued in the thesis that each tradition provides only a partial basis for peace education, and that ultimately a holistic and integrative understanding is required, one that encourages a culture of peace.
Synopsis
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, writes in the Foreword to this book: The present study by James Page provides a timely exposition of what might be argued to be a philosophy of peace education. It provides an overview of different philosophical approaches, and from diverse culture perspectives, of peace education throughout the world. As such it offers an important addition to the emerging literature on peace education and the culture of peace, as well as an important commentary on the peace mission of UNESCO.CONTENTS: Acknowledgments. Preface. Foreword. 1 The Problem of Peace Education. 2 Virtue Ethics and Peace Education. 3 Consequentialist Ethics and Peace Education. 4 Conservative Political Ethics and Peace Education. 5 Aesthetic Ethics and Peace Education. 6 The Ethics of Care and Peace Education. 7 Conclusions. 8 Abbreviations. Citation Method. References. Name Index. Subject Index.